Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Testimony in the capital murder trial of a Del Rio man ended Wednesday.
Victor Garcia, 19, was on trial for the fatal shooting of 11-year-old Nate Rubio on Jan. 16, 2022. Garcia is accused of shooting at the house where Rubio was visiting a friend. A bullet from that shooting struck Rubio, killing him.
The trial was held in the Del Rio Civic Center, with the makeshift courtroom set up in the Red Oak Ballroom.
Testimony on Wednesday began with DRPD Cpl. Oscar Gonzalez returning to the stand. Gonzalez, one of the police department detectives who helped investigate the case, had been called to the witness stand on Tuesday afternoon.
While Gonzalez was on the stand, prosecutors played audiotapes of several interviews with Garcia. Jurors were provided with transcripts of the interviews.
On the tapes, Garcia can be heard denying his involvement in the shooting, but Gonzalez testified Garcia’s statements were inconsistent with information detectives obtained from other principals in the case.
Gonzalez and DRPD Cpl. Trevor Snyder, the lead detective in the Garcia case, asked Garcia why he had gone to the house at 404 San Juan St., and Garcia replied, “Cause Nathan was there,” referring to Nathan Reynosa, a young man with whom Garcia was said to have had problems in the past.
When the detectives asked Garcia what his intent was in going to the San Juan Street house, Garcia replied, “I was going to shoot up the crib (house).”
Garcia also told Gonzalez and Snyder he was carrying and shooting a 9mm handgun, while his friend, co-defendant Aldo Esquivel, carried a .40-caliber handgun when they shot at the house.
“I didn’t know the kid was there,” Garcia protested during one interview, though much of his mumbled, profanity- and slang-laced answers to questions were difficult to understand.
Under cross-examination by Garcia’s appointed attorney, Albert Valadez of Ft. Stockton, Gonzalez testified Garcia never admitted to attempting to kill Nathan Reynosa and never admitted to attempting to kill Marisa Sanchez, Reynosa’s girlfriend, or Nate Rubio, the boy who was shot to death.
Jurors on Wednesday also heard from Snyder, from Texas Department of Public Safety firearms examiner Ricardo Ramirez and from DRPD Cpl. Gorge Mayorga.
Snyder, who was assigned to head the investigation into who shot and killed Nate Rubio, testified about the processes he and fellow officers followed in their investigation of the crime scene.
Snyder, under questioning by Assistant Attorney General Matthew Shawhan, opened a box containing the bullet police recovered from inside the house at 404 San Juan St., the bullet police believe ended Nate Rubio’s life.
The box also contained parts of a 9mm handgun and a .40-caliber handgun detectives recovered from two separate vacant lots in the Val Verde Park Estates area of the county.
Snyder testified about interviewing Adolfo Tapia, who was in the vehicle with Esquivel and Garcia the night they drove to the San Juan Street house and shot at it. Snyder said Tapia told police the guns used in the shooting could be found in a brushy field off Dallas Drive and Gregory Drive.
Tapia also told police the barrel of the 9mm handgun used in the shooting had been thrown into a field behind his mother’s apartment in the Villas de Val Verde, a public housing complex off Farm-to-Market Road 2523.
Ramirez testified about the gun parts and bullet sent to his laboratory for testing, and Mayorga testified about the search for the guns.
The final witness to testify for the prosecution was Adolfo Tapia Jr., 21, initially charged as a co-defendant in the case.
Tapia told the jury, in response to questions from Assistant Attorney General Joshua Somers, that in exchange for his testimony he had accepted a plea agreement for 10 years in prison for the offense of tampering with evidence.
Tapia testified that on Jan. 16, 2022, he had been “hanging out” with Garcia and Esquivel when they decided to drive into town in Esquivel’s black GMC Yukon. He said both Garcia and Esquivel had guns.
Tapia told the jury he heard Garcia speak to someone on the phone and heard Garcia ask that person, “Are you sure he’s there by himself?” and “I don’t want no bullshit.”
Tapia also testified Garcia asked him and Esquivel if they were “down to bust” wherever Nathan Reynosa was located. He explained “to bust” was understood to mean “to shoot at” someone.
Tapia also told the jury he did not want to get involved in the shooting and so stayed in the vehicle whole Garcia and Esquivel got out of the Yukon to approach the San Juan Street house on foot.
After Somers and Shawhan finished with their witnesses, they announced the state rested its case.
Valadez presented no defense witnesses and also announced he rested.
After Valadez’s announcement, Somers said the state closed its case, and Valadez said the defense closed as well.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com .
