Man gets 27 years for attacking Villa Park cabbies

A man who blamed hard times for his actions was sentenced Monday to 27 years in prison for attacking two Villa Park taxicab drivers, seriously wounding one.

David I. Garcia pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder and armed robbery for the June 23, 2006, attacks. In one of the robberies, the driver suffered several stab wounds.

The 25-year-old Elgin man did not have a prior criminal history. Garcia answered a few perfunctory questions during Monday's plea deal but, at his bond hearing nearly two years ago after his arrest, he told a judge he was homeless and needed money.

Garcia admitted hailing a cab on the 400 block of North Ellsworth Avenue in Villa Park and robbing the driver of about $15 at knifepoint. The cab driver was shaken, but he was not injured.

Two hours later, however, authorities said the next man whose cab Garcia entered was not as lucky. Garcia repeatedly stabbed the second driver, from the same cab company, with a 15-inch kitchen knife after he resisted the defendant's demands for money.

The violence occurred near a convenience store on the 300 block of Ardmore Avenue. The cabbie was stabbed in the head, face, neck and shoulder.

"The driver was able to hit the accelerator and the defendant fell out of the cab on the concrete," prosecutor Anne Celine O'Hallaren said.

She said the injured driver sought refuge in the store until help arrived. He survived blood loss and other injuries, the worst of which was a head wound that required 18 staples.

One of the cab drivers later identified Garcia in a police lineup, officials said, and the defendant provided a written and videotaped confession. O'Hallaren said a forensic scientist also linked Garcia to the crime after tracing blood on his T-shirt to the victim.

DuPage Circuit Judge Kathryn Creswell presided over the plea deal.

Garcia must serve 85 percent of a 20-year prison term for the attempted first-degree murder charge.

Afterward, he must serve half of a seven-year term for armed robbery. He also receives credit off his sentence for the nearly two years he has spent in the DuPage County jail on a $1 million bond while awaiting the outcome of the case.