Alva sentenced to life

The verdict wasn’t quite as quick as the one against Jesse Lee McGinnis, but it didn’t take a jury much longer to convict his former girlfriend of murder as well — even though she didn’t pull the trigger.

After just over a half-hour of deliberations, Naomi Lee Alva, 20, was convicted of murder in the June 18, 2006, shooting death of Adrian Ramirez Garza, 22.

After the verdict, it took just less than an hour for the panel of six men and six women to sentence the woman who drove the van to the West Odessa party that fatal night to life in prison. Alva will be eligible for parole in 30 years.

Santos Garza, the father of Adrian Garza, said he was relived with the verdict. He had the good feeling he did after McGinnis was sentenced to life in July, after a jury took four minutes to convict him.

“It was the same thing,” he said. “They both did the crime. They both should do the time.”

Anthony Garza, Adrian Garza’s brother, echoed those sentiments.

“I feel justice has been served,” he said. “She got everything she deserved.”

Jenna Kimberlin Donnelly became teary-eyed watching the case unfold on its final day. A fight involving Donnelly was among the events that led up to the shooting in the 300 block of North Essex Avenue.

And though Alva was her friend, Donnelly said she was proud to have testified for the prosecution. She said Alva received a fair punishment.

“I feel good that I did justice,” she said. “He didn’t deserve to die. The Adrian Garza I knew was very gentle.”

Possible punishments ranged from five years to life in prison.

Johnnie Joe Oranday still faces murder charges related to the shooting of Garza.

Ector County District Attorney Bobby Bland said this case was harder to prove than the one against McGinnis because Alva didn’t pull the trigger.

“A lot of work and effort went into this case,” Bland said. “This is testimony to the hard work of law enforcement that she got the maximum sentence she could.”

In his closing argument, Bland told the jury of how Alva repeatedly called Garza a “fat (expletive)” — which he said was the first time he’d ever cursed in front of a jury.

“We know why Adrian Garza is dead — because Naomi Alva pointed the deadly weapon of Jesse McGinnis at him,” he told the jury.

Defense attorney Michael McLeaish said a client of his hasn’t received a life sentence since 1991. He said he was surprised by the verdict — he did not expect a sentence longer than 20 to 30 years — but that he would let another attorney represent Alva on appeal.

“The best chance a defendant has oftentimes is some error a trial lawyer made,” he said.

McLeaish also wished he had been able to get Alva to accept a plea deal.

“Had the deal been completed, it would have been much less than this,” he said.

As Bland met McLeaish in the defense attorney’s office across the street from the Ector County Courthouse after the four-day trial concluded Friday evening, he had kind words for the district attorney he faced for the first time in a “full-blown” trial.

“It was much better than I thought it would be,” he said. “Bobby was very polite. He is a very good lawyer. He did everything in a professional manner.”

And Bland returned the respect.

“Mr. McLeaish did everything he possibly could with what he had to work with,” he said.