SAN ANTONIO – Bexar County’s Civil Service Commission on Monday upheld the 2020 termination of the Precinct 2 captain indicted alongside Michelle Barrientes Vela.
Marc Garcia, who was placed on leave and then terminated in February 2020, had been seeking years of back pay and benefits.
Commissioners Lisa Jones and Paloma Ahmadi briefly deliberated in an open session Monday morning.
Although the commissioners tossed out several allegations against Garcia, they stated there was credible evidence that he had demonstrated conduct unbecoming of an officer while working as a captain for the West Side precinct.
“Well look, I’m not going to sugarcoat it, Dillon. It is a big disappointment,” said Garcia’s attorney, Mark Anthony Sanchez.
The hearing, which began in August, resumed in late September and finished Monday, was clouded by Garcia’s connections to former constable Barrientes Vela.
“I respect the decision rendered by the commissioners. They invested a lot of time and energy. Ultimately Dillon, I think the specter of the criminal charges against constable Vela permeated this hearing and ultimately were a background factor, I think, in the decision that was made,” Sanchez said.
Barrientes Vela and Garcia were indicted in early 2020 and named in multiple employment lawsuits filed by deputies who worked at the agency.
While the county eventually paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle the suits, the constable and captain’s criminal cases took much different paths.
Barrientes Vela was convicted of felony tampering with records in 2022 and was later sentenced to five years probation, 90 days in jail and 600 hours of community service early last year.
Garcia, who faced charges of aggravated perjury and official oppression, was granted immunity in exchange for agreeing to testify against his former boss.
He was not required to take the witness stand, however, after the judge overseeing Barrientes Vela’s case excluded his testimony.
A state appeals court in El Paso overturned Barrientes Vela’s convictions last month, while Garcia’s reinstatement hearing was still in progress.
Commissioners on Monday denied Sanchez’s motion to have testimony about Barrientes Vela removed from the hearing record.
“We don’t judge cases on a guilt-by-association standard,” Sanchez said during Monday’s hearing.
Precinct 2 Constable Leticia Vazquez, who terminated Garcia as one of her first official acts after assuming office in 2020, told KSAT Monday the commissioners made the right decision.
“I am relieved. Because I wasn’t there, I can’t say what they (deputies) actually went through. Hearing the same stories over and over, it has to mean something. So I am relieved for them, that they aren’t going to be put through all that,” said Vazquez, referring to two deputies who were fired by Barrientes Vela only to be reinstated by Vazquez after she was appointed to the position.
Sanchez said Garcia has 30 days to appeal the commission’s decision to a state district judge.
Sanchez said he will spend some time going through the hearing record to determine the specific evidence cited by commissioners in their decision to uphold Garcia’s termination.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.