SANTA ANA, Calif.—A mistrial was declared Tuesday in the trial of a man charged with fatally shooting an acquaintance from work when jurors deadlocked 11–1 for guilt.
Vicente Dulay Deguzman is charged with murder with a sentencing enhancement for the discharge of a gun causing death. He is accused of killing 47-year-old Jesse Garcia Sr. on June 7, 2020, while the two were driving on the southbound Santa Ana (5) Freeway in Irvine.
A pretrial hearing was set for Jan. 31 to discuss going forward with the trial.
While behind the wheel, Deguzman “turned toward Jesse Garcia in the front passenger seat and shot him five times,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Jeff Moore said in his opening statement of the trial.
“The defendant pulled the car over to the side of the road and Jesse Garcia stumbled out of the car and [the] defendant left him by the side of the road to die.”
Deguzman allegedly fled the scene and dropped the gun somewhere near the crime scene and attempted to hide a ball cap on a baseball field before going to the Target in Irvine Spectrum, where he bought new clothes and discarded his old ones, Moore said.
The defendant had his girlfriend call him a cab and get him a room at the Hilton Garden Inn in San Diego, Moore said. Police said he barricaded himself in the room for about two hours after authorities tracked him down and attempted to detain him before he surrendered.
Deguzman gave police a variety of reasons for the shooting such as he feared the victim would steal his drug money and would attack him, Moore said.
However, Garcia was shot in the back as he stumbled out of the car, Moore said. The prosecutor said evidence from the autopsy will “disprove false claims” of self-defense.
“In the end, what this was, was a murder,” Moore said.
“They had both been using methamphetamine, the defendant had been up and he was paranoid,” Moore said.
Deguzman’s attorney, Hans Corteza of the Orange County Public Defender’s Office, said his client had been the victim of two violent robberies over the years during drug deals, which affected how he would approach such transactions going forward.
In 2020, the defendant and victim had been working together in the San Diego area, Corteza said.
“They were more like acquaintances who hung out together,” Corteza said.
They would hang out in the defendant’s garage drinking and doing drugs, the defense attorney said.
At one of their gatherings, Garcia showed Deguzman his knife, Corteza said.
Deguzman got a call June 6, 2020, to deliver some drugs to Chowchilla in Central California, Corteza said.
It was a rush job on “short notice,” so the defendant could not find the usual people he trusted to go with him as protection, Corteza said. So he turned to Garcia, who agreed to help, the attorney said.
Deguzman rented a Kia Altima from an Enterprise location in his own name because he did not trust his own car for the long drive, Corteza said.
At their first stop to pick up the drugs in Los Angeles, Garcia insisted he had to go back to San Diego, so Deguzman reluctantly agreed, Corteza said.
Deguzman took Garcia to an apartment complex on the way back, where the victim started doing methamphetamine with his friends, Corteza said. That raised the defendant’s suspicions, he added.
When Deguzman reminds Garcia they are on a “tight schedule,” Garcia agrees to turn around and head back up north to drop off the package, Corteza said.
While en route, Garcia kept wanting to stop with the defendant warning him they were short on time, Corteza said.
Eventually, the two dropped off the drugs and headed back home, the attorney said.
Garcia kept wanting to stop on the way back as well, but Deguzman, who had gotten a security notification of a possible break-in at his home, was in a hurry to get back to San Diego, Corteza said.
Deguzman believes Garcia dropped something in the dark car before the shooting, Corteza said. And things took a strange turn when they were in Irvine when the chattering Garcia suddenly stopped talking and stared at the defendant, the defense attorney said.
“All of a sudden he becomes quiet,” Corteza said.
According to Corteza, Deguzman said, “What’s going on? Are you OK?”
When Garcia reaches into his pockets, a panicked Deguzman warns him, “Don’t do it” multiple times, Corteza said.
“Once he takes his hand out” of his pocket, Deguzaman, “fearing he would be killed or stabbed,” opened fire, Corteza said.
“Mr. Deguzaman is scared, he is panicking, he felt his life was in danger and he felt he needed to take action,” Corteza said.
Deguzman was unfamiliar with the area and was afraid to call police and tell them what happened, Corteza said.
When police questioned the defendant about the drug deal, he was evasive because he feared the others involved in the transaction would attack him or his family, Corteza said.
The defendant did do methamphetamine that day, but it did not affect him since he was driving a great deal, Corteza said.
“This is not a case of being paranoid,” Corteza said. “Mr. Deguzaman believed Mr. Garcia was going to stab him. ... Mr. Deguzman did not want to kill Mr. Garcia.”
