Jury Rules Killer of 2 Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity

VENTURA —  A Ventura County jury ruled Monday that a La Crescenta furniture merchant was not guilty by reason of insanity when he killed two friends in Upper Ojai.

The verdict means Miguel Hugo Garcia, 43, will be confined to a state psychiatric hospital instead of prison for as little as six months or as long as the rest of his life.

Garcia told detectives he believed he was killing the devil and a demon May 22, when he fired six bullets into 83-year-old Albert “Jim” Alexander and 12 into the man’s daughter, Helen Giardina, 42.

Relatives of Alexander and Giardina began crying as the verdict was read. “They were visibly shaken,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Calvert said.

Calvert had argued that Garcia was sane enough on the night of the shooting to know what he was doing, to understand it and to know that it was wrong.

“I felt going into this case, that it was a call the community should make,” Calvert said after Monday’s verdict. “I just felt that 12 people who live in this community should be the ones to make the determination of whether he was sane or insane.”

Calvert said the jury “worked very hard on this case,” deliberating for 4 1/2 days and deadlocking once late last week.

“They were out a long time, and I know they gave consideration to all the evidence in this case,” Calvert said.

Calvert told jurors in closing arguments that Garcia had tried to woo Helen Giardina that night with a dinner of sushi and wine, gifts of a pair of doves and a gilt-edged red-leather Bible, as well as a rose and a love note left on her pillow.

But when Giardina spurned him, Calvert told jurors, the pair argued loud enough to waken Alexander, who came out of his room to intervene and grabbed a gun.

Garcia shot Alexander to death, then killed Giardina because she refused to return his affections and witnessed the killing of her father, Calvert said.

But Garcia’s attorney, James Farley, told jurors during closing arguments that Garcia’s mental illness had been worsening in the preceding months, and that he suffered a severe psychotic episode.

Garcia believed Alexander and Giardina were demons, and that Giardina’s 3-year-old son, Jimmy, was a savior who needed protection from them, Farley argued.

Garcia shot the couple to death, laid a photo of his own ancestors over Alexander’s face and then called 911 to report the slayings.

Jurors at the trial heard the 911 tape and tapes of police interviews in which Garcia raved in English and Spanish about being a Muslim warrior named Rashid Ali, who was sent to protect little Jimmy.

At first, Garcia did not understand the verdict as it was being read Monday. But when it was explained to him, he began to cry.

“I know he didn’t want to go to prison,” Farley said. But the jury’s ruling “makes him feel that’s the right thing for him. He’s said that from the very beginning, that he should be in a hospital.”

The next step is a hearing Oct. 20, at which the county Department of Mental Health will make a recommendation as to where Garcia should be hospitalized. The judge will determine the length of the commitment, based on whether he rules the crime was first- or second-degree murder, Farley said.

Garcia may petition the court as early as six months from now to be released to outpatient treatment. But, Farley said: “That’s not going to happen. Let’s face it, there’s two dead people, and they’re going to look at Mr. Garcia awfully close before they let him go back in society.”

The length of jury deliberations took its toll on both the victim’s families and Garcia’s, Farley said. As for Garcia, he said, “He’s so heavily medicated, I’m not sure he knew he was waiting for anything.”