MEXICO TO HAND OVER GARCIA COOLEY WON'T GO AFTER DEATH PENALTY.

Byline: Troy Anderson and Rachel Uranga Staff Writers

The man accused of killing Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy David March will be extradited from Mexico because officials here agreed not to seek the death penalty - an option that will now be considered in hundreds of other cases, prosecutors said Friday.

District Attorney Steve Cooley said he will seek a life sentence without possibility of parole for Mexican national Jorge Arroyo Garcia, 29, sidestepping a controversial treaty that has meant Mexican authorities have refused to extradite fugitives facing the death penalty in the U.S.

``I'll tell you, it's conflicting,'' Cooley said. ``If Armando Garcia was arrested in the United States of America, I would - without hesitation, without the blink of an eye - urge the death penalty for him and commit all the resources of this office to his execution.''

While lawmakers, March's family and Sheriff Lee Baca hailed the news of Garcia's arrest and impending extradition, Baca also noted the trade-off that had to be made.

``It's totally unfair,'' Baca said. ``The fact that the Mexican government interferes in any way with crimes that occur in the U.S. is wrong. We're not satisfied. But the alternative is that the suspect runs free - and that's unacceptable.''

Late last year, the Mexican Supreme Court lifted a ban on extraditing suspects who might face life imprisonment in the United States - a decision officials said could affect more than 700 suspects wanted for crimes in California.

With the help of federal marshals and Mexican authorities, Cooley said, he now plans to focus on locating and apprehending about 200 other fugitives in Mexico, some of whom are featured on his Web site www.escapingjustice.com.

Once those suspects are in custody, Cooley said, he'll face the same dilemma as in the Garcia case - whether to forgo the opportunity to bring a killing suspect to justice because of an insistence on the death penalty.

``We can seek up to life in prison without the possibility of parole,'' Cooley said. ``That's a matter of law and has been for 26 years. That is one of the vagaries of the law, and an unfortunate result, but it is the law.

``We have no other options. We just happen to be operating in the context of an international extradition treaty that our federal government has the exclusive right to negotiate. There is no real trade-off. It's not like we agreed to it.''

Baca said that, for now, seeking a life sentence was the only way to move the March case forward.

He said he plans to push the Mexican government to create an exclusionary law that would apply to Mexican nationals while in foreign countries and allow the death penalty or other harsh punishment for Mexican nationals who kill someone on that nation's soil.

More details of Garcia's arrest emerged Friday.

Officials said officers from Mexico's Agencia Federal de Investigaciones - acting on information provided by the Los Angeles Regional Fugitive Task Force - arrested Garcia just after noon Thursday as he left his uncle's house in Tonala, a small town just outside Guadalajara.

``He was totally taken by surprise,'' said U.S. Marshal's Service Chief Inspector John Clark, who said a seven-member surveillance team had spent thousands of hours over four years tracking Garcia.

Clark said investigators went to 30 addresses in five Mexican states as they followed leads from sleepy fishing villages on the Pacific Coast to mountainous jungle strongholds controlled by drug lords and, finally, to a suburban neighborhood.

After he was taken to a local police station, Garcia allegedly threatened the officers, saying his ``associates were going to come and break him out,'' Clark said.

Mexican agents have boosted security while a plane and a special-operations team from Mexico City were dispatched to take Garcia to a federal prison while he awaits extradition.

``He's in a very secure facility now,'' Clark said. ``I don't think it's a threat any more.''

Garcia, a convicted drug dealer, was working as a methamphetamine dealer or for a methamphetamine distribution organization at the time of March's death, April 29, 2002, Cooley said.

Garcia is accused of shooting March several times at close range with a semiautomatic handgun during a traffic stop in Irwindale.

He fled to Mexico within hours of the shooting and had reportedly threatened to kill any officer who tried to apprehend him.

The case gained significant attention in the U.S. and Mexico and became the subject of high-level discussions over extraditions.

Last year's Mexican Supreme Court ruling allowed Cooley's office to file a special-circumstances murder case against Garcia.

The case, filed last month, charges him with March's murder as well as two attempted murder cases, also from 2002, and two charges of illegal weapons possession.

The complaint alleges that Garcia murdered March while the deputy was on duty and that he killed March to avoid arrest. Both special circumstances would result in life imprisonment if Garcia is convicted.

March's father, Santa Clarita resident John March, said he would be satisfied with a life sentence for Garcia.

``As far as I'm concerned, what is the death penalty in California?'' March asked. ``I mean, he would be in prison for the next 25 years with appeals, with this and that and everything else, and probably die in jail anyway.

``To me, I'm perfectly satisfied that this guy will be off the streets and won't be able to hurt anyone else.''

Some, however, said it's unfair that Mexican officials can affect the punishment of those who commit crimes in the United States.

``I think it's silly a guy kills a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil and (is) not subject to the laws of the United States,'' said Michael Rushford, director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a pro-death penalty group.

``I doubt we would intervene if there was strong evidence that a U.S. citizen killed a Mexican officer on Mexican soil but the strength of this (treaty) may be enough to persuade the district attorney to not go with the death penalty.''

Since Mexican President Vicente Fox took office a couple of years ago, Mexican Consul-General Ruben Beltran said the nation has extradited a growing number of criminals to the U.S. - now at 147. Last year, Mexico extradited 41.

Officials with the Mexican Attorney General's Office say U.S. officials there have seven extradition cases pending before its Supreme Court and 15 or 16 requests for extradition from U.S. authorities.

``This is a shining example of what can be achieved through bilateral cooperation,'' Beltran said. ``With the apprehension of Garcia, Mexico ratifies that it's not a haven for criminals. Criminals should be put on notice.''

For March's widow, Santa Clarita resident Theresa March, the capture is the culmination of four years of work to bring her husband's alleged killer to justice.

``I have seen his face every day of my life in my imagination,'' she said. ``This guy's been a monster in our lives. After this, it's up to the court systems and the ultimate judgment of God.''

Troy Anderson, [phone]

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- ran in Valley edition only) Barbara and John March, parents of slain Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy David March, are all smiles Friday at a news conference with Sheriff Lee Baca.

(2 -- ran in Valley edition only) Theresa March, widow of Deputy David March, holds a paper announcing the capture of suspect Armando Garcia.

(3 -- ran in Valley edition only) Officers from Mexico's Agencia Federal de Investigaciones arrested Armando Garcia as he left a house in Tonala.

Agencia Federal de Investigaciones

(4 -- color in Valley edition only) MARCH