MEXICO RETURNS MURDER SUSPECT SLAIN DEPUTY'S HANDCUFFS USED.

Byline: SUSAN ABRAM Staff Writer

MONTEREY PARK -- The handcuffs that hung on sheriff's Deputy David March's belt the day he was gunned down will be shackled around the wrists of the murder suspect when he is handed over to Los Angeles officials this week and charged with the crime.

Sheriff Lee Baca held those handcuffs up Tuesday as he and the Los Angeles County district attorney announced that Jorge Arroyo Garcia, the man suspected of killing March in 2002 before fleeing to Mexico, had successfully been extradited and was on United States soil early Tuesday.

Garcia is being held in an Orange County jail until Thursday, when he will be arraigned in a Pomona courtroom and charged with March's death.

``David March led with his heart and that makes this tragedy all the more difficult,'' said an emotional Baca, holding up the slain deputy's shiny, silver handcuffs to symbolize that justice for his deputy had finally arrived.

``David March will ultimately have the last say in this case,'' Baca said.

For years, March's case became another glaring example of immigrant fugitives escaping U.S. justice by slipping back into their home countries -- where legal wrangles often delay or prevent extraditions back to the U.S.

But on Tuesday inside sheriff's headquarters in Monterey Park, District Attorney Steve Cooley and an official from the Mexican Consul General's Office declared success, saying Garcia's detention could lead to better cooperation on extraditions between the two countries.

Cooley said he will pursue a life sentence without parole for Garcia.

``Four years, eight months and 10 days -- that's how much time has elapsed since David March was brutally gunned down,'' Cooley said. ``This was the case we wouldn't forget.''

A gang member who went by the name ``Chato,'' Garcia had a record of dealing methamphetamines and was known to hold down odd jobs in his country, working in small stores and on ranches.

Garcia was captured nearly a year ago in a small town outside Guadalajara.

Under Mexican law, Garcia was allowed two appeals to avoid extradition, but judges in both trials found the evidence against him solid, said Guillermo Fonseca Leal, legal attache for the Mexican Consul General's Office in Los Angeles.

``This tells anyone who commits a crime here that they will not be allowed to find refuge in Mexico,'' Leal said.

March, a 33-year-old deputy from Saugus, was gunned down April 29, 2002, as he approached a black Nissan Maxima on an Irwindale street. Garcia, an undocumented worker who had previously been deported four times and was additionally wanted on suspicion of attempted murder in Baldwin Park, was identified as the prime suspect in the death of the seven-year law enforcement veteran.

Working with U.S. marshals, Mexican law enforcement agencies helped track down Garcia in the western state of Jalisco after an expansive search through three states.

In 2001, the Mexican Supreme Court barred extradition of nationals who faced a life sentence in the United States.

The March case sparked a national outcry as lawmakers, radio talk-show hosts and March's widow, Theresa, called for changes in the system that would allow undocumented immigrants who commit crimes and flee to be brought to justice.

Theresa March testified before a congressional hearing that spotlighted the Mexican law, which she believed stood in the way of justice for her slain husband. She appeared at rallies and lobbied for Garcia's arrest and extradition.

There was partial victory in 2005, when the Mexican courts reversed the ban and granted the extradition of two murder suspects who faced life in prison with the possibility of parole for cases in Ventura and San Bernardino counties.

Cooley said the extradition of two more fugitives is nearing completion. Daniel Perez, captured last year, fled the country while on trial for the kidnapping and attempted murder of his wife, then for killing her father in 1999.

Alvaro Jara-Luna, a Los Angeles gang member suspected of killing 12-year-old Steven Morales in 1988 in front of an apartment building in Los Angeles, also fled to Mexico and was captured last year.

Both cases are featured on Escapingjustice.com, a Web site started by the March's to help other families caught in the same tragedy, find support and information.

While grateful to law enforcement agencies, March's parents and widow said Garcia's successful extradition marked another reminder of their loved one's death.

``Today is a kind of sad day, when it all comes crashing down,'' David March's father, John, said. ``Garcia means nothing. He is nothing. He will never see the light of day. He will be in jail for the rest of his life. Thank God.''

March's wife, Theresa, echoed those words as she tried to hold back tears.

``I thought it would be a day of celebration, but it's a day of sorrow,'' she said. ``Two people are gone forever. Garcia threw his life away, and David is gone forever. We have been broken without him.''

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2 photos

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(1 -- color) MARCH

(2) Theresa March, right, wife of slain Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy David W. March, hugs Jan Maurizi of the District Attorney's Office during a press conference Tuesday in Monterey Park to announce the arrest and extradition of murder suspect Jorge Arroyo Garcia.

Keith Birmingham/Staff Photographer