People v. Garcia

Defendant, Edwin Garcia, was tried by a jury and convicted of murder. He was sentenced to the Illinois Department of Corrections for a period of 30 years.

On July 4, 1984, defendant, a 41-year-old, self-employed auto mechanic, was visiting a friend at 1713 North Kedzie, Chicago, Illinois. A group of four or five teenagers, including Raphael Figuera, age 16, was sitting on the front stairs of the building. Raphael testified that as defendant went down the stairs, “[h]e like tapped me on my leg and I told him why did he step on my leg *** and he went down the stairs and he ignored me.”…