SPRINGDALE : Second suspect arrested in deadly 2007 bar fight
Posted on Wednesday, July 2, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/230274/
The second of two men charged in the death of a Springdale real estate agent in a bar fight last year has been caught at the U. S.-Mexico border.
Jesus Garcia, 42, was arrested Saturday at a border crossing in Brownsville, Texas, the U. S. Marshals Service said Tuesday.
Deputy marshal Dewaine Allen said Garcia has family in Springdale and Brownsville and that he was trying to reenter the United States.
Garcia, formerly of Springdale, is charged in Washington County Circuit Court with being an accomplice to manslaughter in the death of Ricarti Bayona.
Bayona, 48, died after being struck in the face while trying to break up a fight among other patrons on Sept. 13 at the Sunset Saloon in Springdale.
Bayona and his friends were leaving the bar when the fight broke out, according to a police report. He was knocked unconscious and died Sept. 18 after several days of treatment in the intensive care unit at Northwest Medical Center-Springdale.
Doctors said his skull had been fractured.
Prosecutors charged Garcia and his nephew Roberto Carlos Garcia-Vasquez with being ac- complices to manslaughter.
“Both defendants struck him during the altercation,” deputy prosecutor Mieka Hatcher said. “It all happened very quickly.”
Garcia and his nephew fled the bar after they hurt Bayona, police said.
Garcia-Vasquez was arrested Sept. 26 after crashing a pickup during a police chase in Benton County. He gave fake names to the police, including Roberto Hi-Locortoris.
In February, Garcia-Vasquez pleaded guilty in circuit court to being an accomplice to manslaughter, and he was sentenced to 16 years in prison with eight years suspended.
Allen on Tuesday said Garcia fled Springdale to Mexico, where he is a citizen, almost immediately after Bayona died. Allen wouldn’t say where Garcia was living in Mexico.
The marshals service obtained an arrest warrant charging Garcia with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
On Saturday, a border patrol lookout at Brownsville spotted Garcia trying to enter the United States, Allen said. He was arrested and appeared before a federal magistrate Monday. He’s expected to be returned to Washington County in a few weeks.
Allen said Garcia’s residency status isn’t immediately clear.
Before Bayona’s death, Garcia worked in the Springdale area, although Allen wouldn’t say where.