A nursing supervisor enraged at two co-workers who accused him of sexual harassment and got him fired from successive jobs was convicted Thursday of killing a couple during a Valentine's Day rampage that left four people dead.
After an hour and twenty minutes of deliberations, a jury convicted Frank Garcia of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and kidnapping in the Feb. 14 slayings of Kimberly and Christopher Glatz at their home in Canandaigua in western New York.
Garcia, 35, stood expressionless as the verdict was read. He could get 25 years to life in prison with possibility of parole at sentencing Sept. 1.
"I cannot imagine a case ever having more evidence of guilt," prosecutor R. Michael Tantillo said in closing arguments after laying out what he characterized as "an absolute avalanche" of forensic evidence and eyewitness testimony pointing to Garcia as the killer.
Tantillo said Garcia "chose to destroy a decent loving family" when he shot the Glatzes execution-style after holding them hostage for three hours while their two teenager children cowered upstairs.
Investigators contend Garcia targeted Kimberly Glatz, 38, and another former underling, nurse Mary Silliman, after their workplace complaints led to his dismissal from a nursing home in Rochester in October and a hospital in nearby Brockport in February.
Garcia will be tried separately in November for a pre-dawn attack Feb. 14 outside Lakeside Memorial Hospital in Brockport. Silliman, 23, was slain along with Randall Norman, 41, a motorist who intervened when he saw her being roughed up in the parking lot.
The Glatzes were killed about eight hours later some 50 miles away. Police recovered Garcia's DNA from a wad of gum and cigarette butts he discarded at the house and fingerprints he left on a notepad in which Christopher Glatz, 45, had written farewell notes to loved ones.
The Glatzes' 15-year-old daughter, Haley, the first of 33 prosecution witnesses during a weeklong trial, said she heard Garcia from an upstairs bedroom demanding $25,000 from her parents. Haley was awarded $25,000 in compensation after alleging in a complaint that Garcia sexually assaulted and harassed her.
Before leaving, the teen said Garcia taunted her and her 12-year-old brother, asking them "if we wanted to live or die" and then forcing them to say "Thank you, Frank" for sparing their lives.
Garcia was arrested at a restaurant in Rochester that afternoon after negotiating a surrender by cell phone. He was carrying a loaded .40-caliber Glock pistol that police determined was the murder weapon.
NY Defense lawyer David Morabito, who did not call any witnesses, maintained there was either insufficient or conflicting evidence pointing to Garcia as the triggerman. "Haley was not present when the shots were fired," he said in closing remarks.
Garcia found out Feb. 13 he'd been fired by the Brockport hospital after Silliman complained he had sexually harassed her and offered her money in exchange for sex. Hospital officials said they learned only after the slayings that Garcia had also been dismissed by the nursing home.
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