After three tense hours waiting for a verdict in the murder trial of Pete Garcia Jr., the Garza family said they finally got closure. Garcia was sentenced to 35 years in prison for the murder of Orestes “West” Garza.
“He’ll always be in our hearts, and he did impact a lot of people,” West’s brother Osmundo Garza said. “Those people became our support.”
They said the past year and a half has been difficult, but they had time to heal.
“I think we were all willing to accept whatever it was they gave him,” Omar Garza said. “We had time to heal, except of course, we put it in God’s hands. We still believe his judgment is coming.”
The defense argued Garcia acted out of “sudden passion,” and that the jury should consider a lesser sentence. At one point during closing arguments Wednesday, Garcia’s attorney asked the jury to “let Pete come home to his family and hug his granddaughter someday.”
The prosecution responded later, asking the jury “When does West Garza get to come home?” They argued Garcia planned to fire those deadly shots. A jury agreed, saying the defense did not prove “sudden passion,” sentencing him to 35 years in prison.
Former band member and friend Dustin Garrett said, music and religion were strong bonds between West and himself, and that West was a forgiving person.
“We pray for someone that could commit this, but nobody is beyond forgiveness,” Garrett said.
He said, the experience of playing onstage with Garza was something he’ll never forget.
“His music is going to live forever. We got great opportunities to perform in front of 50,000, even 60,000 people with him,” Garrett said, of some of their most special performances and events. “How cool was that to share that with him.”
Garza’s sister “Dilly” added, “That’s how we are going to keep it alive, keep him alive, keep his spirit alive…his music.”
