Jury finds Antonio Garcia not guilty of murder in 2020 shooting death of Arlington man
Prosecutors and Arlington police said that Antonio Garcia shot and killed Cedric Dawkins on New Year’s Day 2020. A Tarrant County jury at Garcia’s trial this month disagreed.
Garcia’s attorney, Harry White, said the jury had no other choice but to deliver a not guilty verdict on a murder charge after hearing the evidence the defense presented.
“Antonio Garcia did not kill that man,” White told the Star-Telegram. “Sometimes people walk on crimes they did but that’s not what happened here. This was the correct verdict. He was innocent.”
White said he presented the jury with evidence that not only created a reasonable doubt but proved Garcia was innocent, even to the point he felt like he presented more evidence about the crime than the prosecution.
“It felt like we adopted the burden on this one,” White said.
Police said Dawkins, 29, was killed while dealing drugs at his apartment on Streambed Court. Investigators suspected the person who killed him was trying to steal from him. According to an arrest warrant affidavit, an eyewitness told police she saw Garcia there and that he had a gun.
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White said Garcia was there to buy drugs but that the witness wasn’t reliable. Her story has changed several times, from saying she saw Garcia in the doorway, “dancing back and forth” as if trying to decide if he should stay or leave before she heard gunshots, according to the defense attorney. According to the affidavit, the witness told police she went to call 911 after seeing Garcia with the gun and she did not see the shots being fired.
Dawkins was still alive when police arrived and he told officers to check his cell phone for a contact he referred to as “LA,” who had called him shortly before the shooting, suggesting that “LA” had shot him, a homicide detective wrote in the affidavit. Dawkins was transported to a hospital, where he died.
Police traced the phone number to Garcia, the affidavit stated, and he was arrested Jan. 24 in Los Angeles.
White argued that police didn’t collect all the evidence they should have and said that investigators for the defense used analysis of the crime scene and evidence collected by authorities to show the jury that Garcia didn’t commit the murder.
“What we did is we said here’s the evidence,” White said. “Here’s why he’s not guilty. We didn’t lay out stupid theories — we just showed the evidence methodically.”
At one point, White said, he asked an Arlington detective if she thought the defense had conducted more intense investigation into determining who killed Dawkins. She told him it was possible.
Arlington police said in an emailed statement to the Star-Telegram that detectives were thorough in their investigation.
“Our detectives conducted a thorough investigation of this incident,” the statement read. “Based on that investigation, we filed criminal charges against Mr. Garcia and worked with our partners at the Tarrant County DA’s Office to present a case to a jury. We respect the judicial process.”
White said his team identified another suspect they believe is more likely to have killed Dawkins.
In the end, he said, the jury deliberated for 80 minutes on Dec. 11 before acquitting Garcia. It was a swiftness that White said he hadn’t seen in a not guilty verdict before.
It was a travesty that Garcia, 31, spent three years in jail waiting for trial, White said. But he was glad the jury found that he wasn’t guilty.
“The system worked for Antonio Garcia, that’s the most important thing,” White said. “Those 12 jurors may have cast the most important vote of their lives, more important than any presidential election.”
He said that he worries now, though, that the system won’t work for Dawkins and authorities won’t be able to prosecute the real killer.
“Because of the way they tried this case, they may never be able to convict the person who actually did because their star witness is not very believable,” White said.
