Dr. Javier De La Garza was sentenced today to two years of probation and fined $2,500 after pleading guilty to firing a gun outside his Congdon Park home, driving drunk and leading Duluth police on a chase to Spirit Mountain, where he was arrested.
An Arrowhead Regional Corrections probation officer also told the court that De La Garza recently was fired from his position as a gastroenterologist at St. Luke's hospital. De La Garza is considering moving back to his home state of Texas.
In April, De La Garza, 53, was found guilty by Sixth Judicial District Judge Eric Hylden of reckless discharge of a fire-arm within a municipality, fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle and driving while impaired in connection with the Nov. 30, 2007 incident.
De La Garza entered an "Alford plea,'' in which he didn't dispute the charges and agreed that police had presented sufficient evidence for a judge or jury to find him guilty. He told the court he couldn't remember much about his actions the night he fired a shot from a 9 mm Luger pistol during a domestic dispute with his wife.
Hylden asked De La Garza if he had anything he wanted to say before being sentenced.
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"I'm just ready to go on with my life,'' he said.
Hylden stayed imposition of De La Garza's sentence, which means that if he complies with the conditions of his probation, the case against him will be discharged. For civil purposes -- employment applications, for example -- De La Garza has a record of a misdemeanor rather than a felony conviction. St. Louis County prosecutor James Nephew didn't oppose the stay.
Hylden sentenced De La Garza to two years probation for the firearm conviction and one year probation for fleeing police, to be served concurrently. He was given the option of spending 15 days working for the Sentence to Serve program or 120 hours of community service work. He was fined a total of $2,500. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail on the drunk driving charge, but the jail time was stayed providing he has no similar charges.
De La Garza was ordered to abstain from alcohol during probation and to take all prescribed medication, but no unpre-scribed medication. He is subject to random tests to check for drug and alcohol use. He cannot own or possess a firearm.
Superior defense lawyer Richard Gondik told the judge that De La Garza had sold his firearms to help pay for his legal defense.
"I think it was a fair disposition; he certainly didn't get preferential treatment,'' Gondik said outside the courtroom. "The sentence was reflective of a first-time offender with no criminal record. He's led an exemplary life. I think the sentence reflects the stress he was under as the result of false allegations that were levied against him and he was found not guilty by a jury of 12.''
In February, a Dunn County, Wis., jury found De La Garza not guilty of third-degree sexual assault of a 43-year-old former patient on her family's boat at Barker's Island. The alleged victim in that case and three other women have pending civil lawsuits against the doctor alleging he touched them in inappropriate ways.
De La Garza reached an agreement with the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice in September of 2007 to stop practicing medicine while the board investigates complaints against him. A call to the board to check on his current status wasn't immediately returned today.
