When Rafael Garcia, a then-Deputy U.S. Marshal, was taken into custody by Shelton police after a frightening domestic dispute two years ago, he asked them to give him “a little professional courtesy.”
They didn’t — and neither did Judge Richard Arnold, who on Tuesday sentenced Garcia, a New Jersey resident, to 66 months behind bars.
“He’s disgraced himself and he’s disgraced the badge that he wore,” Judge Arnold said before imposing the sentence on Garcia at Superior Court in Milford.
Background
On Aug. 3, 2010, Shelton police were sent to the condominium complex off Trap Falls Road where a woman Garcia was having an extramarital affair with lived. Cops had received several 911 calls reporting some type of fight in progress and a female screaming for help.
Authorities later learned Garcia and his 44-year-old girlfriend had been having a dispute in his vehicle after the woman told Garcia she was ending their relationship.
In court Tuesday, State’s Attorney Kevin Lawlor said that the case “very well could have been a murder-suicide” if not for the “heroic” actions of Garcia’s then-girlfriend, her neighbors, and police.
“He was stating to her how he was going to take her life and then take his own life,” Lawlor said.
The woman wrestled a handgun away from Garcia.
Garcia “then reached for yet another gun, that he had strapped to his ankle,” Lawlor said. Another struggle over that gun ensued, during which the gun went off but didn’t injure either of them.
The woman then escaped from his vehicle, after which Garcia then put the car in drive, sped down an access road the woman was running down, and hit her, throwing her 10-to-15 feet into the air, according to one witness.
“He was actually able to see her go up in the air above the bushes and do two somersaults” before landing, Lawlor said. “He thought for sure she was dead.’
The witness dragged the woman into the condo complex’s pool shed and locked its door.
Garcia then tried to flee the scene, ramming a Shelton police cruiser in the process.
The Arguments
Garcia had been scheduled to go to trial in the case in May but accepted a last-minute plea deal that saw him plead under the Alford doctrine to a charge of first-degree assault.
Under Alford, a defendant does not admit all the facts in the case but concedes there is enough evidence for conviction at trial.
Under the terms of the deal, Garcia would face a maximum of seven years in prison, with his lawyers, Kevin Smith and Norm Pattis, given the right to argue for no jail time.
They did so Tuesday, saying Garcia was a decorated member of the marshal service and had suffered physical and mental injuries as a result of being at Ground Zero during the Sept. 11 attacks that, untreated, led to the August 2010 incident.
Smith quoted a saying from Abraham Lincoln — “Mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice” — in asking Judge Arnold not to send Garcia to jail. “This is the case that I think proves the wisdom of those words,” Smith said.
“There is nothing that punishment is going to do to further deter Mr. Garcia,” Smith said. “He understands he has ruined his life. There is nothing that will be gained by incarceration. This man is not a danger to himself or others at this point.”
Garcia’s lawyers also had a former probation officer, Clinton Roberts, put together a lengthy “mitigation report” that detailed Garcia’s background and medical history.
Garcia himself read a three-page typed statement to Judge Arnold, pausing throughout because he was choked up or needed to wipe tears from his eyes.
He began by apologizing to the victim in the case and the state.
“Prior to Aug. 3, I was suffering from various psychological and medical problems that were not being addressed,” Garcia said. “I always thought I could work it out on my own. I realize now that I could not work these things out … and I needed help. I should have asked for help.”
“It’s something that I have to own up to,” Garcia said. “Now I stand before your honor ashamed. The incident on Aug. 3 does not define me, or my entire life.”
“Incarceration would only prove more devastating to an already tragic situation,” Garcia said, adding that his mother is very ill, and he has a young son with learning disability and emotional problems. “Consider my wife, my kids, my family. I am not a danger to the community.”
Lawlor, on the other hand, asked Arnold to impose the seven-year sentence, saying the physical and emotional toll suffered by Garcia’s ex-girlfriend “has been great.” The woman also lost her job and amassed $25,000 in medical bills, he said.
“She lives in fear every day of what happened to her,” Lawlor said. “I don’t think there’s anything worse that can happen to someone than be afraid in your own home … Luckily, this was not a more serious situation.”
The prosecutor also conceded that Garcia had a good work history as a member of the law enforcement community, but said that had already been taken into account in offering him seven years.
“He has gotten substantial credit for his good deeds and his service to the country,” Lawlor said. “What this defendant did on that day … deserves a significant period of incarceration.”
The Sentence
Judge Arnold began his remarks by noting that having to pass down sentence on any former law enforcement officer is a “very difficult time for any judge.”
Regarding his service on Sept. 11 and afterward, Judge Arnold said Garcia “can’t be thanked enough.”
But he also noted that there were plenty of people affected more significantly by the terrorist attacks who didn’t get involved with the type of behavior Garcia did.
The judge also took a dim view of parts of Roberts’ mitigation report that he said seemed to shift blame for the incident from Garcia to the victim in the case.
“Those don’t sit well,” Judge Arnold said. “Those don’t sit well.”
And while he said Garcia gave a very “impassioned statement,” he seemed unconvinced there was true remorse.
“There just seems to be a lot of situations here where there’s excuses, excuses, excuses, not coming face to face with ‘It’s my fault.’”
In the end Judge Arnold handed down a 20-year prison sentence to be suspended after Garcia serves five-and-a-half years behind bars, followed by five years of probation.
While on probation, Judge Arnold ordered Garcia to undergo psychiatric treatment, stay out of the state unless ordered to be here by probation officials, and pay restitution to the woman for her medical bills.
Judge Arnold also issued a protective order barring Garcia from having any contact with the woman until 2062.
Family members of Garcia who were at the sentencing declined to comment on the case afterward.
Also in court Tuesday were three Shelton police officers who investigated the case — Detective Sgt. Kevin Ahern and Detectives Mike Fusco and Ben Trabka.
Afterward, Trabka said he thought justice was served with Judge Arnold’s sentence.
“She’s still fearful,” Trabka said of the victim in the case. “It’s had a traumatic impact on her life and it always will. (Garcia) came from another state to basically terrorize this woman.”
