During the preliminary hearing of a bizarre case involving
allegations of witchcraft and Satanism, a Hollister police officer
testified that a local man nearly choked his girlfriend to death
last year because he believed it was the only way to reclaim a
piece of his soul that she had stolen.
Hollister – During the preliminary hearing of a bizarre case involving allegations of witchcraft and Satanism, a Hollister police officer testified that a local man nearly choked his girlfriend to death last year because he believed it was the only way to reclaim a piece of his soul that she had stolen.
At the end of the Thursday hearing, which aired allegations of witchcraft, blackmail, drug use and bondage, San Benito County Superior Court Judge Steven Sanders tossed out a solicitation for murder charge against Hollister resident Sontu Garcia, but found there was enough evidence for him to stand trial on charges of attempted murder and domestic violence.
After being arrested in November, Garcia was charged with solicitation to commit murder when police discovered a cryptic note they believe was intended to ask a friend to help him kill his ex-girlfriend. But Sanders dropped that charge due to a lack of evidence. Sanders instead held the 32-year-old accountable for three felonies including the attempted murder charge, evading police and domestic violence.
Sanders found that while the victim, Brandy Raquel Jackson and one of the prosecution’s primary witnesses to the alleged attempted murder, Garcia’s friend Marc Solorio, were not credible in some aspects of their testimony, there was enough evidence to allow the case to proceed.
The preliminary hearing concluded the initial testimony Sanders heard last month, where Hollister police officers and Solorio testified to events that occurred last November. Garcia was arrested when Jackson reported that after a night of heavy methamphetamine use, he choked her almost to the point of passing out because he “believes in witchcraft and he thinks I took something from him,” Jackson said in court last month.
Hollister Police Detective Tony Lamonica, who investigated the case, provided testimony Thursday which corroborated Jackson’s previous statements.
“There was one mention of taking her soul,” Lamonica said. “Garcia thinks she took something from his soul and the only way to get it back was to kill her.”
While Deputy District Attorney Steven Wagner led Jackson through a series of questions that illustrated allegations of an abusive relationship that included Garcia repeatedly tying Jackson up against her will, raping her and physically and emotionally abusing her, a different picture emerged from Lamonica’s statements.
“(He tied me up) close to 50 times,” Jackson said. “I have medical bills because of some of those incidences.”
But Lamonica testified that through his investigation he learned that both Jackson and Garcia practiced witchcraft and performed satanic rituals, and that bondage was common in both of their pasts.
Garcia’s attorney, Greg La Forge, questioned Lamonica about numerous interviews he had conducted with Garcia and Jackson’s acquaintances in an attempt to discredit Jackson’s testimony that Garcia tied her up against her will and raped her.
Lamonica said a Salinas man who Jackson and Garcia were living with before returning to Hollister last year told him both Jackson and Garcia were “psycho” and that Jackson had a proclivity for bondage and rough sex. Lamonica said the man told him Jackson had asked him to clean up a pair of rusty handcuffs for her, that he told the detective he saw her hit Garcia when she got upset and that she liked to catch people in lies and play head games.
La Forge also questioned Lamonica about an interview he conducted of one of Jackson’s ex-boyfriends, who was a long-time friend of Garcia’s. “He said (Garcia) was unstable and that Mr. Garcia would be able to kill somebody,” Lamonica said.
While on the stand, however, Jackson said she didn’t enjoy being tied up and consented to Garcia’s wishes only out of fear for her safety.
La Forge also questioned her about an unusual term she says, “blue,” that she used when describing the night Garcia allegedly choked her. She said on that night, Garcia was hounding her about where she’d spent the portion of the day and finally she just said, “blue.”
“It means blue, purple, what are you going to do after someone asks you the same question over and over,” Jackson told La Forge. “Blue means I’m not going to talk to you anymore. In my mind, it means that’s it.”
After nearly an hour of testimony about the couple’s sexual preferences, La Forge threw another wrench into the works by introducing a witness who claims one of the prosecution’s primary witnesses, Solorio, attempted to blackmail Garcia while they were in jail together to testify in his favor.
Nabor Albert Rodriguez testified that while in the county jail with Solorio about four weeks ago, Solorio told him to tell Garcia that he wouldn’t testify against him if he gave him money. However, Solorio said in court that he jokingly told Rodriguez to tell Garcia to get him some chips or candy from the commissary, or jail store, and that nothing else was said about money.
“He said, ‘Let him (Garcia) know I’m not going to drop the dime on him,'” Rodriguez said. “And let him know to put $1,500 on my books so everything will be squashed.”
When Wagner questioned him about it and whether he told any of the correctional officers about the transaction, Rodriguez said he did not report the alleged bribe to anyone because he never got the chance. Rodriguez denied offering his testimony to help Garcia.
After all the witnesses had been interrogated, Wagner wrapped up the prosecution’s argument by hammering home Jackson’s alleged fear of Garcia, scratches on her neck from where she said he choked her and numerous other incidences of alleged abuse.
“He has a real stranglehold on her and on the day in question he really tried to finish the job,” Wagner said in his closing statements. “He wanted to finish her life.”
While La Forge painted Jackson and Solorio to be less than credible witnesses and that his client doesn’t deserve to be charged with anything more serious than battery because he never intended to kill the woman, Sanders disagreed. But he also voiced concerns about the prosecution’s main witnesses.
“Credibility is a major factor. The victim was not credible in her entirety, nor was the other principle witness,” Sanders said. “But even a witness not credible in some aspects can be credible in many others.”
Garcia will be arraigned on the felony charges on May 4 at 1:30pm, where he will enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
