Tweets from Allison Levitsky today
After six hours yesterday, prosecutor David Boyd continuing his closing argument this morning in #SierraLaMar trial.
Bailiff still passing out seat passes, but no need for an overflow room today. Courtroom not as packed. #SierraLaMar
Cellphone found 3/17/12. Bag and school books found 3/18/12. Clothing goes to lab 3/19/12 - DNA matches defendant from database.
Garcia-Torres was first interviewed by @SCCoSheriff on April 4, 2012. #SierraLaMar
Investigators asked Garcia-Torres if he knew #SierraLaMar to explain presence of his DNA on her jeans, three weeks after disappearance.
He said no, that he'd only heard of her from news on TV. Graphics had been shown in news of where her cellphone, clothing had been recovered
Garcia-Torres told @SCCoSheriff that he knew he was being followed, had discarded tracking device he'd found on his car. #SierraLaMar
Boyd says Garcia-Torres withheld from @SCCoSheriff that he was on Palm Avenue when #SierraLaMar would have been walking to bus stop.
Sheriff's investigators interviewed Garcia-Torres for the second time April 7, 2012. #SierraLaMar
Boyd plays video of 4/7/12 interview where defendant says he went fishing 3/16/12 - left RV park 7am, got up to Chesbro Reservoir at 8am.
"I don't go around leaving my DNA everywhere," AGT said. @SCCoSheriff told him DNA was being transferred just sitting in the interview room.
Prosecutor says fact that AGT told interviewer he masturbated in his car, threw napkins out the window-w/no prior mention of sperm-is damning
Garcia-Torres was "right there at the right date, the right street and the right time," Boyd reiterates. #SierraLaMar
"He wasn't just unlucky enough to be picked out of the database, to not have an alibi," Boyd says. "He is a guilty man." #SierraLaMar
Boyd: "What would have to be reasonable to make a case that this defendant is not responsible for the kidnap and murder of #SierraLaMar?"
Boyd asks how else to explain AGT's DNA on SL's jeans, SL's DNA on door handle in AGT's car and on outside of gloves in his trunk.
Boyd: "Somehow" Sierra's hair made it onto a rope found in Garcia-Torres' trunk. "Improbabilities don't conspire. They're just improbable"
Boyd: Garcia-Torres "forensically connected" to "similar" crimes- attempted kidnappings of three women, alone, where nothing was taken.
Boyd:"It just so happens that that battery gets used in a crime around the corner from where he lives, at the front door of where he works."
"You must accept the reasonable and reject the unreasonable" in evaluating circumstantial evidence, Boyd tells jury. #SierraLaMar
"Do not reward this defendant for his planning, his cunning and his success in silencing #SierraLaMar," Boyd tells jury.
Boyd:"He didn't want anyone to know what he had done, so he killed her. He didn't want anyone to know what he had done, so he hid her body."
Boyd wraps closing argument. Judge calls for a break until 10:05am. #SierraLaMar
Defense attorney Al Lopez thanks jury for their time (more than three months now) before starting opening argument. #SierraLaMar
Lopez tells jury that DA has to prove that a crime was committed, and Garcia-Torres committed the crime, beyond a reasonable doubt
Lopez warns jury about distracting "shame evidence" that he says has been presented by DA. #SierraLaMar
Boyd has linked the 4 charges together-2009 kidnap attempts a "training ground" for 2012 kidnap-murder. Lopez says evaluate each on its own.
Lopez says in Safeway kidnap attempt, no evidence of intent. Suspect didn't verbalize a demand. #SierraLaMar
One of kidnap attempt victims (Lundy) couldn't identify Garcia-Torres as suspect, but remembered a smirk. Lopez asks what this proves.
Lopez on fingerprint on stun gun battery: "You need to show how, when and why" the fingerprint was left. #SierraLaMar
As Lopez attacks DA case, he drops orange balls, each representing a piece of DA's evidence, into a glass he's calling a "shame bucket."
Lopez claims fingerprint match was inconclusive, accuses DA of skirting the rules for lack of evidence. #SierraLaMar
Lopez says it's "not fair" to Garcia-Torres, LaMar family to "make up evidence" that #SierraLaMar is dead.
Lopez launches into his "top 10 reasons" for lack of evidence that a murder took place. #SierraLaMar
10. Bank of America security video: Garcia-Torres had calm demeanor, looked uninjured, wasn't tracking dirt.
9. No evidence AGT had tools to hide body. Lopez asks why abductor would hide body so well, leave clothes to be found. "That looks staged."
8. No statement of guilt. 7. Why? They didn't know each other. 6. Where's the murder weapon? 5. No eyewitness of struggle in kidnapping.
4. No crime scene. No blood. 3. No evidence of violence on clothes- rips, broken zippers, stun gun burns, bleach stains. #SierraLaMar
2. No cause of death. No evidence she was killed, no evidence of when she was killed. DA "throwing it out there, hoping we get angry."
1. No body- she's a missing person. "That's the heart of this case," Lopez says. #SierraLaMar
"She was in a broken home. She wanted to run away," Lopez says. #SierraLaMar
It's a "reasonable inference" that #SierraLaMar left home around 7:15am 3/16/12, Lopez says. Walk to bus stop was 8 min, bus arrived ~7:25am
Lopez says there's no evidence that Garcia-Torres turned on Palm Avenue, as he said he had. #SierraLaMar
Lopez says based on time Garcia-Torres left, he would have passed through Palm at 7:11am or 7:13am-a couple minutes before Sierra left home
"There was no chance encounter," Lopez says, reminding jury that a brown car was also seen driving erratically in the area that morning
Lopez asks why DA didn't do soil analysis on dirt found on #SierraLaMar's jeans
Lopez says DA should have done DNA testing on cypress seeds recovered in evidence. #SierraLaMar
No aquatic plant seeds like the ones found on #SierraLaMar's clothing were found in Garcia-Torres' car, Lopez says.
