Reunion led to death of friend, probation for Bedford man

Growing up together in the southern African nation of Angola, Assis Silva and Marco Ribeiro were so close that they considered themselves brothers.

Both escaped their native country as refugees, calling different parts of the world home. Silva settled in Bedford with his wife.

So in the early morning hours of July 19, when Ribeiro flew in from Dubai to visit Silva, their reunion was cause for celebration.

Silva picked up his friend at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, and they went out in Dallas. He was driving the men to his home that morning when he lost control of his 2012 Kia on Texas 183 in Bedford.

The Kia struck a guardrail and flipped, killing Ribeiro. Silva, who had a blood-alcohol level of 0.12, was arrested.

This month, Silva pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter, and he was sentenced this week to 10 years’ probation in a plea deal reached with Tarrant County prosecutors.

“This case is truly a tragedy for all those involved,” said Lex Johnston, Silva’s attorney. “Assis will have to live with the fact that he caused the death of his best friend.”

Prosecutor Tim Rodgers said many factors went into the plea deal.

“While it’s always tragic when someone loses their life in a crime like this, all factors are taken into consideration in coming up with a resolution that fits each situation,” Rodgers said. “Taking into account the circumstances surrounding the relationship of the victim and defendant — as well as those surrounding the offense itself — we felt this was an appropriate resolution to the case.”

Among those factors, he acknowledged, was that the prosecution could never track down relatives of Ribeiro. Johnston said Ribeiro’s brother, who had been planning to move back to Angola when the wreck happened, claimed Ribeiro’s body and left the country. No other relatives lived in the U.S., and efforts to reach others in Angola led nowhere, he said.

Still, both sides say, there were indications that the family would have supported the plea deal. Ribeiro’s family had wired money to Silva to help pay his legal fees, Johnston said, identifying Silva as a “cousin” in the transfer paperwork.

“It’s very obvious the family is close to the defendant,” Rodgers said.

An accident investigator for Tarrant County also uncovered that the guardrail was the same style as ones that have been deemed defective and might not have functioned as designed.

Johnston said Silva “was ready to accept responsibility for his actions that night and is working to atone for those actions.”

And his legal woes aren’t over.

Johnston said that while he believes Silva was granted refugee status and was in the country legally, his client has been told by an immigration attorney that he will be taken into custody by immigration officials and likely deported.

This story was originally published July 10, 2015 at 2:46 PM with the headline "Reunion led to death of friend, probation for Bedford man."