For Garcia, holidays in jail

The suspended lawyer, wearing prison orange in court Wednesday, is in custody for alleged violations of release.

By ROCHELLE OLSON, Star Tribune

Last update: November 25, 2009 - 10:14 PM

Suspended lawyer Al Garcia agreed Wednesday to spend the holidays in jail rather than fight the federal government, which took him into custody for allegedly violating the conditions of his release before trial on drug charges.

Appearing in court wearing all orange, including his jail tennis shoes, Garcia spoke only briefly in response to yes or no questions from Magistrate Susan Richard Nelson. Nelson said Garcia twice violated the conditions of his release, once with a driving violation and the other by violating a no-contact order.

The indictment against Garcia alleges that he conspired to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine from 2001 until he was arrested in a sting in February.

Federal prosecutors have not discussed Garcia's alleged violations regarding his pretrial release, but he was ordered by the court to stay away from Misty Iverson, who has already pleaded guilty to a drug-related charge. She and Garcia were arrested in the same incident last February when he was alleged to have taken drugs as payment for legal services.

Iverson is Garcia's former legal assistant and is believed to be cooperating with the government in his prosecution.

Garcia, 49, also faces a felony charge in Hennepin County alleging that he coerced a prospective client to have sex with him in his office.

A charge added last week accuses him of felony witness tampering. The complaint says Garcia tried to hire someone to make sure the alleged victim wouldn't be available to testify at his Hennepin County trial in March. He is accused of telling an unidentified cooperating witness that he wanted the woman to "get gone," according to the complaint against him.

Peter Wold, Garcia's lawyer on the federal matters, said that he disputes the tampering charge and will challenge it, but that Garcia didn't fight his detainment in federal court because he would be unlikely to win.

Before the guards put handcuffs back on him to take him from the courtroom, Garcia waved to former Minneapolis City Council President Lou Demars, the sole supporter who came to see him at the hearing.

Demars and former Minneapolis City Council Member Joe Biernat arranged a fund-raiser at Elsie's on Wednesday evening. Biernat said Garcia called him from jail and asked for help for his five daughters. Biernat said the goal is "primarily to make sure they have food on their table for Thanksgiving dinner."

In a letter to friends, Biernat said Garcia's Minnetonka home also is on the verge of foreclosure.

He is scheduled to go on trial in January on the federal charges. Wold has filed numerous motions, including a request for dismissal of the charges.

Demars was Garcia's mentor, giving him a City Hall job when he was still in high school on the North Side.

Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747