Miami Herald, The (FL)-July 20, 2005
Author: SCOTT HIAASEN, shiaasen@herald.com
For four years, the parents of Michael Sanchez-Agramonte and Gabriel Maynoldi hoped to see one man held responsible for the drunken party that led to the car wreck that killed one of the boys and left the other in a coma.
But on Tuesday, a Miami-Dade jury cleared that man, Enrique Valcarcel Sr., of a rarely used criminal charge of allowing teenagers to drink at an after-school party at his home near Kendall.
Prosecutors said Valcarcel casually watched his sons' friends drinking around his pool and did nothing to stop it - which Valcarcel denied.
The weeklong trial focused largely on the conflicting testimony of former students at
Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll High School who were partying at the Valcarcels' house after the school year ended on June 13, 2001.
Some students said they saw Valcarcel at the house for hours while teens openly guzzled liquor and beer in the backyard. Others said Valcarcel wasn't home for most of the party, and the party broke up soon after he got home from work.
Valcarcel's attorney, Jose Quiñon, told jurors that the testimony of many students was vague, unreliable and clouded by alcohol. He said his client didn't know about the party his sons had planned, and Valcarcel searched the yard for alcohol once he started sending kids home.
"Mr. Valcarcel did everything he could to stop that party," Quiñon said. "Unfortunately, he has been unjustly vilified for a long time."
To prove their case, prosecutors had to show that Valcarcel knew that kids were drinking at the house and took no reasonable steps to stop them.
"He didn't take a drink away from any one kid," Assistant State Attorney Melisa Berube told jurors during closing arguments. "Telling his son to tell drunk kids to go home is not a reasonable step."
After nearly four hours of deliberations, the jury of three men and three women told County Judge Luise Krieger Martin that they were deadlocked 5-1. The judge told them to continue discussing the case, and they acquitted Valcarcel about an hour later.
When a court clerk read the verdict, Valcarcel's 20-year-old son, Henry, laughed in the back of the courtroom.
Jurors either declined to comment or could not be reached.
The jury did not hear details about the car wreck that followed the party: Driving more than 100 mph, Maynoldi lost control of his car and struck a tree, tearing the vehicle in two. Sanchez-Agramonte was killed by the impact. Maynoldi is still in a coma. At the time of the crash, both were 17 years old.
The parents of the accident victims said Valcarcel should have called them or a cab rather than let their sons drive away. They say Valcarcel's acquittal only reinforced the need to beef up the state's 17-year-old law holding adults responsible for open-house parties where teens are drinking.
If convicted of the misdemeanor charge, Valcarcel faced no more than 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. His ex-wife, Yasmin, was sentenced to probation after she pleaded no contest to an identical charge earlier this year.
Sanchez-Agramonte's parents want the crime to be raised to a felony.
"The 60 days would have been an injustice to start with," said Michael's father, Armando Sanchez-Agramonte. "If we could save one life by changing this law, one life, that would be helpful."
In 2002, Miami-Dade prosecutors asked a grand jury to charge Valcarcel and his wife with manslaughter for Sanchez-Agramonte's death, but a grand jury didn't find enough evidence.
Prosecutors said they knew of no other local case where a parent had been charged under the open-house law, and state appeals courts have ruled on the law only twice.
Valcarcel's legal troubles are not over. Maynoldi's family has filed a lawsuit against the 50-year-old auto dealer and others who may have known about the party, including school administrators.
"If any of these people had taken even the slightest of actions, they could have saved a life," said the Maynoldis' lawyer, David Deehl.
Herald.com: For CBS4 video on the trial, click on today's extras
color photo: Enrique Valcarcel Sr. (a), Armando and Betty Sanchez- Agramonte and Olga Maynoldi (a)
PHOTOS BY CHUCK FADELY/HERALD STAFF TWO SIDES: Enrique Valcarcel Sr., above, in a Miami-Dade court on Tuesday. A jury acquitted him of allowing teens to drink at his home in 2001. After the party, Michael Sanchez-Agramonte was killed and Gabriel Maynoldi injured in a car accident. At right, parents Armando and Betty Sanchez- Agramonte and Olga Maynoldi react to the verdict.
Edition: Final
Section: Metro & State
Page: 1B
Record Number: 0507230227
Copyright (c) 2005 The Miami Herald
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