A Yucca Valley man who crashed while driving high on drugs must stand trial for the murder of his passenger who died in the crash, a Riverside County judge ruled Tuesday. Robert Garcia Junior, 51, also faces charges of DUI causing injury for the injuries of three other people in the January 30 crash in Palm Springs. Garcia was driving a sedan southbound on Sunrise Way about 5:45 p.m. when he made a left-hand turn onto Amado Road, directly into the path of an SUV traveling northbound on Sunrise. Keyon Parks, 39, of Yucca Valley, who was sitting in the front passenger seat of Garcia’s car, was critically injured in the crash and died at the scene. The driver and passenger in the SUV, and the rear-seat passenger in Garcia’s car were injured. Garcia performed poorly on field sobriety tests. Police determined that Garcia had taken the painkiller Tramadol, as well as smoked marijuana; marijuana and paraphernalia were found in Garcia’s car. Robert Garcia Junior, who is being held on $1 million bail, will return to court in Indio June 27 for a post-preliminary hearing arraignment.
