United States v. Rudy Garcia

I. Background

Garcia shot McCraigie on the Colville Indian Reservation in eastern

Washington during the evening of November 4, 2009. Garcia and McCraigie had

been friends since childhood. Garcia and another friend had been drinking at

Garcia’s apartment, planning to go hunting the next day, when they ran out of beer.

They drove Garcia’s Jeep two blocks to the McCraigie house where a drinking

party was in progress. An altercation between Garcia and McCraigie began inside

-3- the house and spilled out onto the sidewalk. A point-blank shot from Garcia’s

hunting rifle seriously wounded McCraigie. McCraigie died a few days later.

A. Evidence Admitted at Trial

The prosecution and defense presented starkly different versions of the

events leading up to the shooting and of the shooting itself. The prosecution

version was that after the fight spilled out onto the sidewalk, McCraigie chased

Garcia from the property. Garcia then went to his apartment, retrieved his hunting

rifle, returned to the house, and intentionally shot McCraigie. One prosecution

witness testified that he heard Garcia say he was going to get his gun. Four

prosecution witnesses reported hearing from…