A Yucca Valley man who crashed his vehicle in Palms Springs in 2017 while driving high on drugs was convicted yesterday (September 22) of the murder of one of his passengers. Robert Garica Jr., 55, of Yucca Valley was sentenced in an Indio Court Wednesday. His charges included the murder of Keyton Parks, then 39, of Yucca Valley, DUI causing injury, and causing bodily injury to three other victims involved in the crash. On January 30, 2017, 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. Parks, 39, 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 also injured. Police determined that Garcia had taken the painkiller Tramadol and had smoked marijuana; marijuana and paraphernalia were found in Garcia’s car at the time. Garcia is being held without bail at the John Benoit Detention Center in Indio. Garcia faces 23 years to life in prison, his sentencing is scheduled for November 5.
