United States Attorney Richard B. Roper
Northern District of Texas

FEDERAL JURY CONVICTS CONVICTED FELON FOR POSSESSING FIREARM - FACES LIFE IN PRISON

Defendant Arrested After He Accidentally Shot Himself in Leg

FORT WORTH, Texas — At a trial held before U.S. District Judge John McBryde this week in Fort Worth, a jury convicted Fort Worth resident, Edward Garcia, of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Garcia, 41, faces a maximum statutory sentence of life in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge McBryde on May 2, 2008.

The government presented evidence at trial that on April 15, 2007, Fort Worth Police Department (FWPD) officers responded to a report of a shooting on West Hammond Street in Fort Wort Worth. When officers arrived at the scene, they were met by Lucia Garcia, Edward Garcia’s wife. She told officers that Garcia had shot himself in the leg. Officers observed Edward Garcia lying in the living room floor with a gunshot wound to his inner left thigh. Officers were taken to a bedroom where they recovered a loaded .22 caliber, semi-automatic pistol.

Further evidence offered by the government showed that when officers interviewed Lucia Garcia, she told them that her husband was drinking beer so she went inside and locked the door, leaving him outside on the west side of the residence. At approximately 8:30 p.m. however, after hearing banging at the front door the front door glass breaking, she went to the front door and saw Garcia standing with the pistol. She opened the front door and took the pistol from Garcia.

The jury heard testimony from a FWPD officer that when he went to John Peter Smith Hospital to interview Edward Garcia, he found that Garcia had an entry wound on his upper left inner thigh and an exit wound on the same leg approximately 12-16 inches lower than the entry wound. When the officer asked Garcia at the hospital what had happened, the officer testified that Garcia said, “Isn’t it ******* obvious. I was putting the gun in my waist and shot myself. If you want to know anything else speak to my lawyer.”

If the court finds at sentencing that Garcia has three or more prior felony convictions for crimes of violence, he will be sentenced as an Armed Career Criminal to up to life in prison.

The case was adopted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office under the Project Safe Neighborhoods program, a nationwide effort which targets gun crime.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the FWPD and the ATF. Assistant U.S. Attorneys J. Michael Worley and Josh Burgess are prosecuting the case.

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