The California 6th appellate district court overturned the conviction of a 2012 murder case on Friday.
Antolin Garcia was convicted of murdering 15-year-old Sierra Lamar. The court ruled that the error was due to trying the murder case with attempted kidnappings of a separate victim three years earlier. District attorney Dan Dow has released a statement alongside the California district attorney’s association, disagreeing with the overturning. Dow’s statement said: “Joinder of crimes into one trial exists to ensure that juries see the full pattern of predatory behavior… if we start unraveling those protections, we don’t just risk one case; we risk a justice system where grieving families wait even longer for answers.”
The statement from the CDAA similarly says that Sierra’s family “now faces renewed uncertainty as the case returns to the courts,” and that the witnesses and victims are now “asked to relive trauma.”
