PASCO — It took nearly a year for state troopers to find a Pasco driver who hit and killed a pedestrian at a busy Tri-Cities interchange and then drove away.
But Franklin County prosecutors and even the judge agreed that despite the tragedy, he should be treated as a first-time offender.
Sergio Garin Villalobos, 34, will serve two months on work crew at the Franklin County jail after pleading guilty to failing to stop at the scene of a fatality accident that killed Martin Perez Garcia in 2018.
The 27-year-old father of four was hit while he was walking home drunk from a party and was possibly in the roadway at the Highway 395 and Interstate 182 interchange.
And his family was upset with the recommendation of Franklin County prosecutors for the short sentence.
“I felt that Washington state has not represented my family,” Perez Garcia’s sister said at a recent sentencing hearing. “They have offered no justice for my brother.”
First-time offender waivers are an option that allows people who have not committed a violent crime to avoid a lengthy prison term.
Judge Pro-tem George Fearing, who also is a judge on the state Court of Appeals, handled the sentencing and said the idea of the waiver is to avoid creating hardened criminals.
In this case, Garin Villalobos was not accused of being intentionally violent but, instead, of not stopping to help Perez Garcia after hitting him.
If he had called police sooner, it’s possible he wouldn’t have been charged at all, Prosecutor Shawn Sant said. Perez Garcia had been spotted earlier the same night walking in the middle of the road.
“(It) is apparent that (Perez Garcia) made a series of increasingly bad decisions that placed him on a poorly lit freeway on-ramp and eventually led to his own death,” Deputy Prosecutor Lucas Downer wrote in a brief to the court.
“The state does not intend to be insensitive, nor suggest that (he) deserved his fate. Instead, the state believes that he is responsible for placing himself in that precarious situation,” Downer said.
Fearing delayed the sentencing scheduled for Monday for a day after Perez Garcia’s family members were unhappy with a proposed one month sentence.
While Fearing admitted his decision to agree to the first-time offender waiver would add to the pain and suffering of Perez Garcia’s family, he said he trusted the prosecution’s judgment since they were more familiar with the case.
“I wish Mr. Garin had acted differently during the first year after this unfortunate death,” Fearing said. “Despite the factors calling for a stronger punishment. … I am adopting the recommendation of the state’s attorney in agreeing to impose the first-time offender waiver.”
Other factors supporting the waiver included that Perez Garcia may have been in the road when he was hit and that the area is not well lit.
Without the waiver, Garin Villalobos faced 2 1/2 to nearly 3 1/2 years in a state prison. With the waiver, the father of one could be ordered to serve up to three months in the Franklin County jail.
“I want to put 90 days down, but I’m going to go in the middle (with 60 days),” Fearing said. “The main problem I have is with Mr. Garin’s conduct is what he did for a year after. The Perez family had no clue what really happened.”
Hit-and-run death
The last night of Martin Perez Garcia’s life started at Joker’s Comedy Club on Nov. 3, 2018, when he was celebrating his girlfriend’s 21st birthday.
Perez Garcia was told to leave the club because he was too drunk, according to court records. They went to his girlfriend’s parent’s home to continue celebrating.
People at the house told him to stay the night, Sant said, but Perez Garcia was determined to make his way home.
He cracked open a rear living room window and hopped the backyard fence sometime around 1 a.m. Nov. 4. That morning also marked the end of daylight saving time.
At some point, someone caught Perez Garcia on video running in the road near West Argent Road and North Road 40, Perez Garcia’s girlfriend told Washington State Patrol investigators.
A Pasco police officer also talked to Perez Garcia near the corner of Tamarisk Road and Indian Ridge Drive. The officer described him as being “agitated and extremely intoxicated.” When the officer tried to help him, he refused.
Security camera footage showed Perez Garcia walking up the off-ramp to 395 from Argent Road shortly after the clock had moved back at midnight.
It’s unclear how far into the road he was when he was hit by Garin Villalobos’ Chevy S10 pickup. The collision sent him into the median where he died.
The Washington State Patrol has said the interchange was not well lit.
Hours later, a passerby spotted the body about noon. Investigators also found a piece of the truck broken off in the crash and released information about the suspect vehicle.
But despite public pleas from the victim’s sister, Rebecca Pimienta, for the driver to come forward, he wasn’t identified until nearly a year later.
It took an anonymous call to police in August 2019 to lead officers to Garin Villalobos. They learned he had sold his pickup to a family member in Yuba City, Calif.
Investigators later learned the tipster was Garin Villalobos’ ex-wife.
He was arrested in October 2019.
