近距离内射合集

When the justice system works correctly, there鈥檚 often not a winner. 

Earlier this month, Amillia Garcia, who turned 22 two days later, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for charges stemming from the death of her son, Leon, who was 2 years old when he shot himself with a handgun Garcia had obtained for protection from her father 鈥� but left unattended in a handbag, according to court records. 

鈥淭here is no punishment that could amount to the pain I have endured at the loss of my son,鈥� Garcia told 2nd Judicial District Judge David Murphy during her sentencing hearing. 鈥淚 will grieve my son for the rest of my life.鈥�

I had been working at the Journal the evening of Sunday, April 6, 2025, when police sent out an alert to the shooting at a Southeast Albuquerque residence where they were investigating Leon鈥檚 death. I was in an Editorial Board meeting with then-Albuquerque police Chief Harold Medina days later when he threw his hands up in exasperation after getting a call informing him that a judge had rejected prosecutors鈥� attempt to keep Garcia in custody until her trial. 

It struck me at the time that the community was rushing to judge the young mother going through the worst thing imaginable. A similar scenario had unfolded just a few years earlier, when the young son of a Santa Fe police officer who lived in Rio Rancho found his dad鈥檚 service weapon and inadvertently shot and killed his 2-year-old brother.

The Rio Rancho case was debated when state lawmakers passed the Bennie Hargrove Gun Safety Act, which made it a crime to negligently make a firearm accessible to a minor. The police officer in that case never faced charges. Garcia was one of 35 people statewide as of April who had been charged under the Bennie Hargrove law.

Garcia crushed any chance of public sympathy when she was arrested for shoplifting fake eyelashes from a Walmart shortly after being released from jail, but I鈥檝e covered enough crimes to know that people who cycle through the criminal justice system often have childhoods and trauma that many of us can鈥檛 imagine. Garcia was no exception. 

Much of the details of her traumatic life are protected, but public records show she had been sexually abused by her father for 鈥渁n extended period of time鈥� and taken out an order of protection against him. That abuse was the reason that she had obtained the gun that led to the death of her son.

Shouldn鈥檛 she be treated with mercy, not a hammer? Doesn鈥檛 sending her to prison amount to punishing her for a crime that she鈥檚 also a victim of?

I talked to the attorneys involved with the case last week to get an understanding of how the case was resolved the way it was. 

鈥淚 believe it was a fair plea offer,鈥� Thomas Clark, Garcia鈥檚 attorney, said. 鈥淚t allows for justice for the actions, but allows for rehabilitation.鈥�

He added: 鈥淚t鈥檚 one of the most difficult and most sad cases I鈥檝e dealt with.鈥�

Having watched Clark don a bowtie and do his best to defend some of the most heinous acts imaginable in courtrooms around the state, that statement packs a punch. 

Deputy District Attorney Savannah Brandenburg-Koch said no two cases are the same, and we can鈥檛 compare Garcia鈥檚 outcome to other parents who have made a mistake that led to the death of a child. 

鈥淚 can鈥檛 answer 鈥榳hat if X, what if Y,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 make a (charging) decision until I see the case.鈥� 

In Garcia鈥檚 case, the gun was illegal. It was a stolen firearm with an extended magazine, and she had no training on how to use or store it. 

After the shooting, Brandenburg-Koch said Garcia wasn鈥檛 forthcoming with police and originally had her friends take the gun away from the residence. She planned with them before calling 911. 

Brandenburg-Koch said child abuse cases are often perplexing to the general public, because many times there is no intent by the guilty party. The test is whether the defendant acted in a way that a reasonable person would consider reckless.

Garcia was charged with child abuse resulting in death (child under 12) (recklessly caused or permitted) (firearm enhancement), tampering with evidence, conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence and negligently making a firearm accessible to a minor (great bodily harm or death). The latter charge is the Bennie Hargrove law, named after an Albuquerque eighth grader who was shot and killed by a classmate who obtained  a gun that was improperly stored by his parent.

As part of a plea deal, Garcia pleaded to abandonment of a child under 12 resulting in death, with a firearm enhancement, and tampering with evidence. The state agreed to cap her sentence at 10 years, and Judge Murphy didn鈥檛 classify her crime as a violent offense, which allows her to earn good time to reduce her sentence by as much as 50%. 

She鈥檒l get credit for the 15 or so months she鈥檚 served since attempting to steal fake eyelashes, and hopefully can get her life straightened out when she gets out in her mid-20s. 

What should we take away from the sad case, and one where there was no winner?

鈥淚t reflects the weariness of society to the proliferation of guns in our communities that continue to cause so much death and destruction,鈥� Clark said. 鈥淭he proliferation of handguns in our community day in and day out causes pain and suffering at every level.鈥�

Ryan Boetel is the Opinion editor at the Journal. He can be reached at 505-823-3960 and rboetel@abqjournal.com.