Jerry Joe Garza Found Guilty

A Denton County jury has found Jerry Joe Garza guilty of capital murder in the death of 32 year-old Monica Partida.

On February 9, 2012, family members called police to a home on Britain Street in Wichita Falls.  The family found a broken window and could not get Partida to answer the door. When officers entered the home, they found Partida had been stabbed to death.

KAUZ News Channel 6 reported yesterday that before the defense rested, a San Angelo detective Michael Gaeta testified that Partida had been involved in a 2008 San Angelo drug related murder case that has since gone cold. On December 12th, 2008,  a cousin related to Partidas' former husband was killed inside a home where Partida and her three children were living. Partida was cleared as a suspect in that investigation following a polygraph test.

Garza has been in custody since February of 2012.  He had been arrested as a suspect in an attack at a downtown bar in October of 2011.  The Denton jury has heard 20 days of testimony in the case.  Garza is facing life in prison without the possibility of parole.