The attorney for a Midland woman sentenced to 40 years in prison for killing two 6-year-olds in an alcohol-related accident has filed a motion for a new trial.
Angelica Garcia was sentenced June 9 to two consecutive 20-year prison sentences in the July 3, 2019 deaths of Mia and Mya Coy. The 34-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of intoxicated manslaughter on the second day of her trial and left her sentencing up to the jury.
The jurors opted to give her two, 20-year sentences and Judge Denn Whalen of the Ector County 70th District Court opted to run the sentences consecutively instead of concurrently, prompting defense attorney Michael McLeaish to immediately ask Whalen to reconsider.
No date has been set to discuss the matter and on Wednesday, McLeaish filed a motion for a new trial in the case.
McLeaish argues in the motion that the statute Whalen used when sentencing Garcia “is unconstitutional in that it deprives this defendant of her right to trial by jury, including her right to be sentenced by a jury pursuant to her election filed prior to trial.”
The defense attorney requested a hearing to consider the matter.
Prosecutors have not responded to either motion and have a policy of not commenting on pending matters.
