Emotional hearings continue in sensational Silicon Valley murder case

Parole Board hears from convicted killer and victim's daughter

In March 2008, when the country was just beginning to suffer through the economic trauma of the Great Recession, a murder case gripped Silicon Valley true crime aficionados. As the story unfolded, sensational news coverage of the ambush shooting of Mark Achilli, a well-known local bartender, shown a light on dirty laundry that civic boosters undoubtedly wanted buried.

Raw truths were exposed as if a bandage were ripped away far too soon.

Prosecutors allege it was a love triangle that led to the murder of Mark Achilli (right). Paul Garcia (left), convicted for arranging it, claims he was railroaded.

Within days of the killing, Paul Garcia, Achilli’s business partner, was in custody and accused of arranging a murder-for-hire. Prosecutors would allege that Achilli and Garcia were involved with the same woman — a bartender at Mountain Charlie’s in Los Gatos, an upscale mountain enclave at the western edge of the nation’s high-tech capitol.

Ultimately Garcia was convicted. As a result of the conviction he is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, known as an LWOP, at the Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, California.

Here’s the twist: Paul maintains his innocence and believes that he has been unjustly incarcerated.

In a recent phone interview he asked, “How am I even in prison on an LWOP? When I wasn't even charged, convicted, charged, the jury wasn't instructed, or found true even one of the 22 enumerated special circumstances,” Garcia asked. “I’m the only person in the state of California like this. How is that possible?”

A recent appeal by Garcia to Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge David Cena, who presided over the trial in the case, was denied.

Cena maintains that ultimately none of Garcia’s questions matter.

“Whether the jury convicted (Garcia) of murder based on an uncharged conspiracy or aiding and abetting theory, the jury necessarily found that (he) personally possessed the intent to kill.”

Last year California Attorney General Rob Bonta similarly argued to the State Appellate Court that, “There is no reasonable probability the jury applied the instructions in an impermissible manner.”

Garcia acknowledges his options for another hearing are dwindling, but he continues to look for rays of hope. He believes one such nugget might be in the recent parole hearing for Miguel Chaidez, a co-defendant involved in the ambush of Achilli.

The state Parole Board didn’t only hear from Chaidez, they also heard from a Santa Clara County prosecutor and Achilli’s daughter, who provided moving testimony about the loss of her father.

Recently, I did a podcast with Burl Barer on True Crime Uncensored. We talked about this case and others, including Norco 80, a great book by author Peter Houlahan.

When it’s posted, I’ll link to the podcast here. Burl and I wrote a very short true crime book on Garcia and Achilli. This blog is an expansion of that book.

In the meantime, if you want to refresh your memory on the Achilli murder and Paul’s insistence he had nothing to do with it, read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, and Part 8 here.

We’ll dig into the nuts and bolts of the Chaidez parole hearing later this week..

Thanks all for your patience with this blog. It’s been a while since the last post (this feels like confession).

During my absence, I had a pretty gnarly surgery. And it took all this time to fully recover. I appreciate all the kind words you’ve sent my way.