Texas plans to execute Joseph Garcia on Tuesday. The jury at Joseph's trial only heard bits and pieces of his life story. Juries should know the truth about a person's background before making a life-and-death decision. Here's the full story that Joseph's jury never heard:
Joseph Garcia was born on November 6, 1971, in San Antonio. Joseph's mother, Sophie, was 19 years old and already had three older children with Danny Garcia. Sophie and Danny had their first child when Sophie was 14 years old.
Before Joseph was born, Sophie abandoned Danny and her three older children. She only kept Joseph with her because it was unclear if Danny was his father. Sophie began dating Louie, a Vietnam veteran with a heroin addiction, and the three of them moved to New York.
In August 1973, Sophie gave birth to a daughter and named her Arlene. Arlene was diagnosed with cancer at a young age. Joseph and Arlene developed a close relationship. He acted as Arlene's protector and caretaker.
Sophie and Louie had a tumultuous relationship. They fought viciously, punching and scratching each other in front of Joseph and Arlene. Joseph often saw his mother and Louie high on heroin – their eyelids drooping and their speech slurred.
When Joseph was 10 years old, the family returned to San Antonio and things got worse. Arlene's cancer progressed and she became confined to a wheelchair. Joseph, still a child himself, helped take care of Arlene. The relationship between Sophie and Louie disintegrated.
Unable to deal with Arlene's deteriorating health, Sophie self-medicated with alcohol and heroin. Sophie was unable to act as a parent and she failed to provide a nurturing, comfortable, and structured environment for Joseph – an environment that every child deserves.
Sophie threw tantrums, went into sudden rages, and stole from family members. She disappeared for weeks at a time in search of drugs, leaving her children behind.
Sophie's neglect and abandonment of her children led to long-term involvement with the Texas child welfare system. The first investigation took place in October 1981, when Sophie failed to pick up Arlene from the hospital for over two weeks after doctors approved her release.
Five months later, Child Protective Services received a complaint that Sophie abandoned 8-year-old (and paralyzed) Arlene and 11-year-old Joseph at a friend's house after a night of binge-drinking. Joseph and Arlene were taken to a shelter.
In 1982, Arlene left Texas to live with her father, Louie, in New York. Louie did not ask for custody of Joseph. Instead of moving with Arlene, Joseph was shuffled around Texas group homes. Joseph viewed Louie as a father and could never understand why Louie did not want him.
After Arlene moved to New York, Joseph never saw her again. She died in March 1984. Arlene had been Joseph's best friend, his "ally in surviving" their chaotic home life. Joseph, age 12, was devastated and blamed himself for Arlene's death – he had been her protector, after all.
Meanwhile, Sophie continued to place Joseph in dangerous situations any time she was around him. The men Sophie was involved with were incredibly violent toward her. Joseph once saw one of Sophie's boyfriends inject her with heroin, leaving her seemingly lifeless.
When Sophie was alone with Joseph, she bathed naked with him and washed his body, including his genitals, until he was 10 years old. Sophie engaged in sex work wherever they lived. Joseph saw men come and go, heard noises, and once saw his mother performing oral sex on a man.
Sophie left Joseph vulnerable to sexual predators. Between the ages of 10 and 12, Joseph was sexually assaulted by an adult man who lived near his grandmother, molested by the brother of his best friend, and raped by a brother of Sophie's violent boyfriend.
The instability of Joseph's home life and the effects of sexual trauma led to a decline in his academic performance. Joseph went from earning good grades and regularly attending class to absenteeism and placement in special education classes for emotionally disturbed students.
Burdened by his extremely traumatic childhood, Joseph struggled to navigate adulthood. In 1988, Joseph met and started a relationship with a woman named Debra. They married a few years later in August 1991. Debra offered Joseph some stability and the hope of a loving family.
Encouraged by Debra, Joseph returned to high school and graduated in 1992. Following his graduation, Joseph joined the Coast Guard and moved to Seattle with Debra. Not long afterward, Debra became pregnant with their first child.
Joseph felt a lot of pressure to succeed. However, as is typical for abandoned and neglected children, Joseph struggled to comply with the strict rules and environment of the military. He wanted to belong, but could not understand how to do that.
Joseph received a recommendation for discharge from the Coast Guard based on unsuitability and seasickness. Joseph separated from duty in December 1993 with an honorable discharge.
Joseph and Debra returned to San Antonio with their one-month-old daughter, Arlene, named after Joseph's beloved sister. Joseph felt great shame and disappointment returning early from the Coast Guard. He struggled to find steady employment in San Antonio.
These difficulties led Joseph and Debra to separate. During their separation, Joseph stayed at various places and with friends, including his close friend Bobby Lugo.
One night in December 1995, Joseph and Bobby went to a holiday party that ended with a group of men violently attacking them. Bobby was stabbed in the stomach. Joseph was stabbed in the leg. Utterly terrified after this attack, Joseph started carrying a knife to protect himself.
Shortly after this violent assault, Joseph's life as he knew it came to a screeching halt. Joseph's fears came to fruition early in the morning on February 6, 1996, when he was forced to kill a man in self-defense to save his own life.
The prior night, February 5th, Joseph had gone out drinking with Bobby Lugo and Bobby's co-worker, Miguel Luna. Afterward, they went to the apartment of Luna's friend, Jocellyn, where they continued to drink and socialize.
Jocellyn and Joseph (who was still separated from his wife) hit it off, but Luna belligerently insisted that he spend the night with Jocellyn. Luna said that he had gone to her apartment to "get lucky." Jocellyn made clear that she did not want anyone to spend the night with her.
Bobby Lugo was so intoxicated that he got into an accident in the apartment's parking lot, so Joseph was left alone to coax the belligerent Luna away from Jocellyn's doorway and give him a ride home.
Shortly after Joseph and Luna drove away from Jocellyn's apartment, Luna started beating Joseph with his fists and choking Joseph, nearly rendering him unconscious. Luna threatened that he was going to kill Joseph. When Joseph stopped the car, Luna stole the keys and jumped out.
Luna had done this before. On two prior occasions, Luna had violently attacked his ex-girlfriend, including once when she was in the car with him, and stole her keys to control her.
Joseph needed to get his keys back, so he exited the car. Luna charged at Joseph and they struggled for a few minutes. Luna then ran toward an apartment complex across the street where his car was parked. Joseph, still trying to get his keys, followed Luna.
In the apartment complex courtyard, Joseph and Luna struggled again. Joseph pulled out the knife he carried for protection after Luna again threatened to kill him. Luna was stabbed multiple times during the altercation and died at the scene.
Joseph was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. A local attorney was appointed to represent Joseph, but the attorney was not interested in hearing about what happened. The attorney only visited Joseph twice, for less than 5 minutes each time.
The attorney did not conduct any investigation into Joseph's case. He never found out about Luna's history of violence, including the fact that Luna had previously attacked his ex-girlfriend in a car and stole her keys in order to trap her.
Joseph's appointed attorney never bothered to investigate Luna's history of violence toward women and toward men who he perceived as obstacles to his access to women. The jury never heard any of the following information that supported Joseph's self-defense argument:
Luna stalked and harassed his ex-girlfriend and she obtained a restraining order against him. Luna violated the restraining order when he broke into his ex-girlfriend's home through a window. After that incident, Luna frequently drove past her home and workplace.
Luna tried to speak with his ex-girlfriend despite the restraining order. When she refused, Luna grabbed her arm, then stole her keys and fled in her car. Just a month before, Luna had attacked his ex-girlfriend in the car. When he finally let her go, Luna stole her car keys.
Luna also attacked his ex-wife's new husband the first time they met. Luna reached out to shake hands and then beat his ex-wife's new husband with closed fists, tackled him to the ground, and continued the volley of blows.
Joseph's appointed attorney also failed to follow up on witnesses who could have testified that about the bruises and cuts all over Joseph's body the morning of Luna's death. This would have shown that Luna attacked Joseph and the killing was in self-defense.
Joseph's appointed attorney was completely inadequate at trial. He failed to challenge the state's witnesses and failed to present a self-defense theory. The appointed attorney didn't even object when the prosecutor made Joseph show the jury how he held the knife.
Joseph's appointed attorney's incompetence was obvious to the jury. The attorney told the jury that they could convict on voluntary manslaughter–an offense that was abolished years earlier. Several jurors commented that they were uncomfortable with how bad Joseph's lawyer was.
The appointed attorney himself seems to have recognized that he was not doing a good job. In his 3.5 minute closing argument, the attorney said: "I, of course, will be through with this case after today. Perhaps I shouldn't have undertaken it, anyway."
Given no defense theory to challenge the state's arguments, the jury convicted Joseph and sentenced him to 50 years in prison. Joseph, who would have been found not guilty had he had a competent lawyer, was devastated by the verdict.
After his conviction, Joseph was sent to Garza East, a prison notorious for gang violence, physical violence, and sexual assaults. Joseph developed a close group of friends at the prison. They stuck together and protected one another.
11 months later, Joseph was transferred away from his friends and to the Connally Unit. Connally was even worse than Garza East. Joseph endured an attempted rape by his cellmate and lived in fear.
When another prisoner approached Joseph with an escape plan, he saw what seemed to be his only opportunity to leave the violence and undo the injustice that occurred at his trial. In December 2000, Joseph and six others escaped. They became known as the "Texas Seven."
The seven men robbed a store after they escaped. A witness outside the store called 911. As the men were preparing to leave, Officer Aubrey Hawkins arrived at the store. Within seconds, Officer Hawkins was shot repeatedly and killed.
There is no evidence that Joseph fired any shots. In fact, there is no evidence that Joseph was even in the vicinity of the shooting. Officer Hawkins was killed outside the store. Joseph had been inside the store during the robbery.
Joseph was arrested and charged with capital murder in Dallas County. Prosecutors focused on Texas's Law of Parties, which allows a defendant to be convicted of a felony committed by co-conspirators, even if the defendant neither committed nor intended to commit the felony.
The Law of Parties allowed prosecutors to argue that Joseph should be convicted even without evidence that he killed or intended to kill Officer Hawkins. Prosecutors presented no evidence that Joseph ever fired a weapon. They couldn't prove he was outside during the shooting.
Joseph was convicted of capital murder and the trial moved to the sentencing phase. The jury was tasked with determining if the death penalty was an appropriate punishment.
The prosecution basically re-tried Joseph for the death of Miguel Luna. They brought in many witnesses to testify about Luna's death. Prosecutors showed the jury Luna's bloody clothes and the knife.
One witness was the prosecutor who had tried Joseph for Luna's death. He testified that Joseph's appointed lawyer had done a "fine job." That statement was not true, but the jury was left with the impression that Joseph's previous trial was fair and the outcome was just.
Joseph's attorneys conducted a minimal investigation into what they called "the family stuff." They did not hire a mitigation specialist. No investigation was conducted into Joseph's history of childhood sexual abuse.
There was no expert testimony about the lasting consequences of the trauma Joseph endured throughout his childhood and adolescence. Joseph's attorneys didn't investigate the background of his previous trial or the conditions in the prison before he escaped.
As a result of these miscues, the defense team's sentencing presentation was far less compelling than the reality of Joseph's life story. The jury only got bits and pieces of the bigger picture.
Despite these problems, the jury submitted a question to the judge indicating that they were considering a life sentence. The judge declined to give a substantive response and the jury then sentenced Joseph to death.
Another attorney was appointed to handle Joseph's direct appeals. This attorney was not known for appellate work. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals admonished the attorney for failing to cite any legal authority in his brief and refused to consider some of the legal claims.
Yet another attorney filed Joseph's initial state habeas petition without conducting any investigation outside the trial record. He decided, without investigating (and wrongly), that there was no point because there was nothing worth finding out about Joseph's background.
That state habeas petition was essentially rejected by the courts because there were no legal claims in the brief that couldn't have been raised on direct appeal. The attorney didn't attach any exhibits to the brief. Not a single piece of evidence.
Joseph finally got new lawyers and they tried to present all the issues that his previous attorneys failed to argue. State and federal courts held the claims procedurally barred and refused to consider the merits.
Earlier this year, news came to light that the now-retired judge who presided over Joseph's capital trial embraced racially bigoted views, especially related to legal matters. That same day, the state moved to set an execution date.
Specifically, the judge admitted that he had created a living trust that penalized his children if they married a non-white person. There were also allegations about the judge using racial slurs on a regular basis.
This is a long story, so let's summarize: Joseph Garcia experienced appalling neglect and abuse throughout his childhood. He was convicted of murder when the killing was actually in self-defense. He escaped from prison after he was nearly raped.
Joseph Garcia was sentenced to death even though the prosecution could not prove that he fired a weapon or was even in the vicinity of the shooting. The judge who presided over that trial is accused of racism and bigotry. Many of Joseph's appellate lawyers were inadequate.
And now Texas is planning to execute Joseph Garcia on Tuesday. As you can see from Joseph's full life story, this execution is wrong in so many ways. I'm urging @GovAbbott to grant a 30-day reprieve and praying that the courts intervene to stop this injustice.
