A jury on April 13 found Joe A. Garcia, of Lompoc, guilty of first-degree murder with a special circumstance of torture, for the murder of his father and for setting a dog on fire, according to Santa Barbara County District Attorney John Savrnoch.
On Tuesday this week, following a separate sanity phase, the same jury found that Garcia was legally sane at the time of the offense — rejecting the defense’s claim that Garcia did not understand the nature or wrongfulness of his actions.
The trial was prosecuted by Senior Deputy District Attorney Madison Whitmore…