Apr 25, 2012
Michigan Appeals court upholds migrant worker’s conviction in killing of farmer

The Michigan state Court of Appeals has upheld the first-degree murder conviction of farm worker Socorro Hurtado-Garcia in the Feb. 5, 2010, killing of his boss, Ed Rasch.

Hurtado-Garcia, 59, who worked for Rasch more than two decades, and was considered part of the Rasch extended family, is serving a life sentence after shooting Rasch while the men were in the farm’s winter quarters in Alpine Township near Grand Rapids, Mich.

Hurtado-Garcia was upset over being laid off, and believed he was being replaced by younger, illegal migrant workers. He shot Rasch in the chest with a .38-caliber revolver, stood over him as he was dying, and asked if he “wanted another.”

A state Court of Appeals panel found ample evidence that Hurtado-Garcia acted with premeditation and deliberation, essential elements for a first-degree murder conviction, which carries a mandatory penalty of life in prison without parole. MLive