GUILTY AR - Isaiah Torres, 6, raped, beaten to death, Bella Vista, 29 March 2015 *parents charged*

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A Benton County circuit judge closed a hearing to the media and public over concerns about recordings from an accused killer being played in open court.

Mauricio Alejandro Torres, 46, and and his wife Cathy Torres, 45, of Bella Vista are charged with capital murder and first-degree battery. The two will be tried separately. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty in both cases.

The couple is accused of killing their 6-year-old son. The jury trial for Mauricio Torres is set to begin Nov. 1.

Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren presided over a suppression hearing Friday. Defense attorneys want Mauricio Torres' statements to police excluded from as evidence at trial.

http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2016/sep/17/judge-to-allow-interview-recording-in-b/?news-arkansas-nwa

 

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Cathy Torres was in court Tuesday, and Circuit Judge Brad Karren scheduled the jury trial to begin May 5.

A pretrial hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Dec. 16.

Her trial was scheduled to begin Nov. 1, but her husband’s trial is now scheduled to begin that date.

http://m.nwaonline.com/news/2016/oct/11/trial-scheduled-woman-accused-killing-6-year-old-s/

 

[LibraStarr]

Jury selection starts tomorrow for Mauricio Torres.

http://www.4029tv.com/article/jury-selection-in-child-murder-case-scheduled-for-tuesday-morning/8058218

 

[LibraStarr]

Attorneys questioned six people Tuesday afternoon, selecting two. Five groups of three people will be questioned in the next few days. Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren will preside over the trial.

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2016/nov/02/2-jurors-seated-in-killing-of-boy-6-201/

 

[LibraStarr]

A male juror selected Tuesday was dismissed Wednesday morning.

Nathan Smith, Benton County's prosecutor, told Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren the man selected Tuesday to the jury called the prosecutor's office Wednesday morning.

Karren requested the juror report to his courtroom Wednesday afternoon.

The juror said he had concerns about serving on the jury. The man said he had spent the last 24 hours thinking about the case and realized he couldn't morally or ethically impose the death penalty.

"I don't find it in myself to give the death penalty," the man said as he sat in a chair in the jury box.

http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2016/nov/03/jury-selection-continues-in-torres-murd/?news-arkansas-nwa

 

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It will take another day to select alternate jurors for the capital murder trial for a Bella Vista man accused of killing his 6-year-old son.

Mauricio Torres and Cathy Torres are charged with capital murder and battery in the first degree. The couple is accused of killing their son, Maurice Isaiah Torres, last year. They each have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for both.

(...)


Three jurors were selected during Friday's proceedings to get the dozen needed for the jury. Nine people were selected to the panel during the first three days of jury selection. The jury is made up of seven women and five men.

Three alternate jurors are needed for the case; one man was selected Friday evening.

http://m.nwaonline.com/news/2016/nov/05/search-underway-for-alternate-jurors-in/

 

[LibraStarr]

Opening statements start Tuesday.

Monday (Nov. 7) was the final day for jury selection in the Mauricio Torres murder trial, after 12 jurors and three alternates were chosen.

http://5newsonline.com/2016/11/07/jury-set-to-hear-opening-statements-in-mauricio-torres-murder-trial-tuesday/

Jury selection was delayed for about 15 minutes Monday morning. Defense attorneys for Mauricio Torres claimed the jail did not shave him properly, and asked for time to do so in the court bathroom. The defense also asked the judge to allow Torres to take medicine because he had a broken tooth that had him in pain.

http://www.4029tv.com/article/jury-selection-finishes-in-torres-murder-trial/8254508

 

[LibraStarr]

Opening statements:

In his opening statement, Prosecutor Nathan Smith referred to Isaiah as the “unloved son” who suffered “unspeakable acts of abuse” and was “covered with marks of abuse.” Smith said the last act of abuse happened during a camping trip at the end of March.

Smith told the jury, Mauricio Torres put a stick in his son’s rectum, which would eventually cause his death, but the child had suffered chronic abuse for two and a half years before that.

Torres’ attorney, Bill James, told the jury the case is an emotional one, but argued there is no proof his client is guilty of capital murder.

James told the jury what Torres did was a form of punishment, not a deviant sexual act and he did not know his son would die. James said the prosecution will have to prove there was intent to kill Isaiah in order to prove capital murder.

James further detailed what happened on the camping trip saying Torres put the stick in and made Isaiah stand in a corner as punishment, but his wife, and Isaiah’s mother, Cathy pushed the boy down on top of the stick. James argued the other injuries found on Isaiah’s body during the autopsy, which the medical examiner ruled pointed to chronic abuse, did not cause his death.

Two teachers also testified:

Following opening statement, Smith called his first witness to the stand, one of Isaiah’s teachers while he was a student at Ambassadors for Christ Academy in Bentonville. The teacher told the jury he was coming to school with more and more bruises, was progressively more angry, would sometimes cry at nap time and would occasionally steal other children’s lunches.

The second witness was also one of Isaiah’s teachers at Ambassadors for Christ Academy. She told the jury the child would come in with bruises on his head, body and face, so she documented her observations. The teacher said Isaiah was smaller in stature than the other children and sucked his thumb, which was unusual for his age. Like the first witness, she said Isaiah stole other children’s lunches.

http://5newsonline.com/2016/11/08/prosecutor-defense-present-open-statements-in-mauricio-torres-case/

 

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Mauricio Torres admitted to a Bella Vista police officer he and his wife spanked their son when asked about the bruises and marks on the boy's back.

Then Capt. Tim Cook told Torres a medical examiner determined his son died as result of chronic child abuse, but the main cause of death was the abuse had severed his rectum.


"Raped," Torres replied to Cook in the interview. Cook told Torres 6-year-old Isaiah had been raped several times. Torres denied raping his son, maintaining he thought the boy was ill with diarrhea.

http://m.nwaonline.com/news/2016/nov/09/trial-begins-for-bella-vista-father-acc/

 

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The jury on Wednesday watched two recordings of Bella Vista Police Capt. Tim Cook interviewing Torres.

Cook interviewed Torres at the Benton County Jail on April 7, 2015. Cook had also interviewed him the previous day. Torres requested that Cook come talk with him. Torres waived his rights and talked with Cook without an attorney present. In the first interview played Wednesday, which lasted 3½ hours, he maintained that his son's death was accidental.


"I'm about to make you a hero of this in Bella Vista," Torres told Cook at the start the second interview.

Warning: there are graphic & disturbing details in the article at the link http://m.arkansasonline.com/news/2016/nov/10/man-admits-to-rape-in-death-of-son-6-20/#/

 

[LibraStarr]

She talked about instances when Isaiah was forced to sleep in a cage every night and on at least one occasion was forced to sleep in a recycling bin in the bathroom.

She also told the jury her father would yank Isaiah’s teeth out with pliers when he found out Isaiah had been speaking badly about him.

Other punishments the nine-year-old described included Torres hitting Isaiah with a stick or an electric cable. She said there were also instances when Torres would make her hit Isaiah with a stick.

Other times, Torres would make Isaiah carry weights around on his shoulders.

Isaiah’s sister also said her brother was not allowed to eat with her or their other sister. Instead he was only allowed to eat peanut butter, rice and beans.

http://5newsonline.com/2016/11/10/day-3-isaiahs-sister-testifies-in-mauricio-torres-capital-murder-trial/

 

[LibraStarr]

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2016/nov/11/saw-father-abuse-son-girl-testifies-201/

Dr. Stephen Erickson, a medical examiner with the state Crime Laboratory, testified Thursday that a contributing factor in Isaiah's death was prolonged and extensive injuries to his body. The boy's death was caused by trauma to his rectum, which caused fecal peritonitis, he said.

Erickson said Isaiah would have had a chance to survive if he had been medically treated two or three hours after being injured, but he arrived at the hospital about 12 hours after he was injured. Erickson said Isaiah had prolonged and significant injuries to his body, and he did not receive proper medical attention for many of the injuries.

"This is a textbook case of chronic child abuse," Erickson said.

He said Isaiah had old and new bruises on his body from his head down to his legs. Prosecutors showed jurors autopsy photographs as Erickson testified.

"You will never know this child's story unless you look at the photographs," Erickson said. "I could write a 50-page report, and you still wouldn't know his story."

 

[LibraStarr]

http://5newsonline.com/2016/11/14/mauricio-torres-capital-murder-case-goes-to-jury/

The trial resumed at 8:30 a.m. following a long weekend that included Veterans Day. The defense rested its case before 9 a.m. without calling any witnesses. The prosecution and defense then each gave a closing statement.

 

[LibraStarr]

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2016/nov/14/jury-deliberating-torres-murder-trial/?f=news-arkansas

A jury found Mauricio Torres, 45, guilty of capital murder and first-degree battery in the death of his 6-year-old son.

Torres will face the death penalty or life in prison without parole, which will be decided during the sentencing phase of the trial.

Deliberations took less than an hour. The jury went to lunch before reaching a verdict.

 

[cocomod]

Thank you JURY!! Justice for little Isaiah!

:jail:

Now, on to prosecuting the female in this case. She doesn't deserve the title that usually goes with having a child.

 

[kaen]

Thank goodness he was found guilty. The things this man did are so horrific. I hope that Isaiah is resting comfortably. The monster can rot as far as i am concerned.

 

[Schmatz]

Heartbreaking. Lost for words.

Gesendet von meinem SM-G920F mit Tapatalk

 

[tlcya]

Reminds me of poor Christian Choate. I can never forget that poor child. Scapegoated, abused by all, including siblings who were forced to do so by their parents.

Just sickening, literally, to think of the prolonged torture this baby went through.

:sad:

 

[LibraStarr]

http://5newsonline.com/2016/11/14/mauricio-torres-other-children-stepchildren-describe-abuse-during-sentencing-phase/

Smith told the jury he will call five of Torres’ other children and step-children to the stand. He said Torres had abused all of them in the past.

Nearly all of Torres’ children and stepchildren accused him of making them perform sexual acts on each other or on Torres. Some of the witnesses also told the jury they had been raped with objects.

Much more at link...

 

[LibraStarr]

The Benton County prosecuting attorney said the death sentence handed down by the jury Tuesday (Nov. 15) in the case against Mauricio Torres was justice for the son he killed and his other victims.

The 12-person jury recommended the sentence after deliberating for about three hours. They convicted Torres of capital murder in the killing of six-year-old Maurice Isaiah Torres, who was known as Isaiah, Monday.

The jury also convicted Torres of first-degree battery and recommended a 20-year-sentence for that.

The judge accepted both recommendations and Torres was led away in handcuffs and a black and white jail uniform.

Prosecutor Nathan Smith said the jury delivered the sentence he was hoping for. He said justice had been done, not just for Isaiah, but for the other children and stepchildren who suffered physical and sexual abuse at Torres’ hands.

Smith said all five of the other victims told him they are grateful to each juror for giving them the justice they were denied earlier in their lives. He also said the sentence was anything but harsh.

“If we have the death penalty, it is for Mauricio Torres,” Smith said. “If there is any person who has walked this earth who deserve the penalty, it’s Mauricio Torres. Mauricio Torres committed the most heinous, vile and despicable crimes that you can imagine.”

http://5newsonline.com/2016/11/15/prosecutor-torres-death-sentence-is-justice-for-isaiah-other-victims/