Either Carolyn Adams Garcia coerced a drug-fogged Jerry Garcia into signing over $5 million to her, or his estate is reneging on a legitimate community property settlement.
Those differing views came out in opening statements in a Marin County Superior Court trial on Carolyn Garcia's claim against the late Grateful Dead guitarist's estate."He was generous to a fault. He'd rather give than fight. He was non-confrontational," attorney Paul Camera said of Jerry Garcia.
But Camera, who is representing Jerry Garcia's estate, said the late musician could also be taken advantage of because of his addiction to heroin, cocaine, LSD and other drugs.
He said he would not go so far as to say Jerry Garcia was incompetent when he signed the contract in 1993 with Carolyn Garcia.
But he charged that Carolyn Garcia, also known as "Mountain Girl," was an aggressive, manipulative woman whose 1981 marriage to Jerry Garcia was a sham. In fact, he said, the two were never legally wed.
Sitting in the front row of the courtroom, Carolyn Garcia occasionally shook her head "no" at the devastating portrait painted of her. During a break in the hearing, she disputed the allegations.
"We had a very loving relationship," said Carolyn Garcia, 50, mother of two of Jerry Garcia's four daughters.
Garcia left one-third of his multimillion-dollar estate and almost all his possessions to his third wife, Deborah Koons Garcia, with most of the rest to be divided among his four daughters.