Defense: Killing was an accident

Prosecutors rested their case against Victor Manuel Garcia on Tuesday, a Mexico native accused of killing a teenage Costa Mesa girl in a local park in 2001.

Garcia, now 25 but 17 the day of Ceceline Godsoe’s slaying, was the main suspect in her death in the days after her body was found.

Witnesses who were with Godsoe and Garcia that night testified she was last seen alive walking away from the group with Garcia while everyone continued to hang out after hours drinking at Costa Mesa’s Fairview Park.

Garcia’s defense attorney, Frank Davis, is arguing that his client did not intend to kill Godsoe when he pummeled her in the dark and left her dead to be discovered later by her friend.

Detectives testified Monday that dirt was on Godsoe’s body and clothes, and that a path in the dirt trail showed she had been dragged at least 25 feet to where she was found.

Garcia fled to Mexico less than a week after the killing and was extradited back to the United States after he was arrested in the capital on an unrelated charge years later.

Tuesday, Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Matt Murphy aimed to establish that Garcia meant to kill Godsoe that night and called upon an expert witness to explain it.

“She died as a result of asphyxiation,” said Dr. Richard Fukimoto, a pathologist who has presided over more than 15,000 cases.

But when it came to what caused that asphyxiation, there is conflicting information.

How a jury determines what caused it may decide Garcia’s fate.

Fukimoto said Godsoe’s injuries — deep bruises to both sides of her face and neck along with a broken jaw — indicate that she was probably unconscious when she died. The deep red bruises on her neck and burst blood vessels in her eyes show she died of asphyxiation, with something stopping the blood flow in her skull.

Fukimoto testified that given the injuries and swelling, a combination of mucus, secretions from her neck and blood from her tongue and mouth flowing into her airway along with the broken jaw cut off her air supply.

Essentially, she was beaten to death, Murphy said.

Fukimoto acknowledged under cross examination that he did not perform Godsoe’s autopsy in 2001, but did review those notes and photographs weeks ago.

He said he did not see photographs showing Godsoe’s lungs were filled with just blood, which would support the defense’s case.

The coroner who performed the autopsy in 2001 concluded that Godsoe drowned in her blood.

If Godsoe did die from complications of her broken jaw, Davis argued, her death was unintentional, and Garcia is guilty of a lesser crime, such as manslaughter.

Through most of the morning Tuesday, attorneys splashed pictures of Godsoe’s bruised and blood-covered head and neck in front of jurors and Godsoe’s parents, emphasizing the severity of the thrashing that Fukimoto said was likely from repeated kicks and punches to the head.

Garcia was at Fairview Park in September 2001, celebrating the birth of his first daughter earlier that day.

He had recently married his 18-year-old bride and was at the park drinking with friends.

Godsoe lived just down the street from the park and was also there to drink, but with a different friend, and neither had ever met Garcia or his pals.

Witnesses testified Monday that the two groups hit it off, especially Garcia and Godsoe. The two walked off together, according to people who were there, and that was the last time Godsoe was seen alive.

Her friend found her at least an hour later off one of the park’s dirt trails.

Davis is expected to begin his arguments Thursday morning.

The entire courthouse is closed today because of mandatory once-a-month furloughs.