Deceased/Not Found CA - Sierra LaMar, 15, Morgan Hill, 16 March 2012 #22 *A. Garcia-Torres guilty*

[Shannon7]

"I wish I could say that I believe AGT will do the right thing, and show Sierra's family where he put her remains, but deep down I do not believe he is capable of an ounce of compassion. He has had more than ample time to disclose what he did with Sierra. He has refused like so many other defendants in missing body cases.
I do not believe he will tell even if he gets the death penalty. It is all about power and control for AGT and he will continue to relish in the pain he will continue to cause her family.
I also don't believe even if he did offer to give up the location the DA would take the death penalty off of the table. The DA made that very clear a long time ago that he would not deal with AGT under any circumstances. This DA knows this is certainly a death penalty case whether the jury votes for death or not and he is going to make sure the jurors have that option to choose from."

He is all about self preservation. I could see him trying to bargain by telling them where her body is in order to save his own hide. He was smug enough to think he could beat the prosecution, so there was no way he would admit anything before being convicted. I also think that if he tells them before given the death penalty, the DA would be willing to bargain, but I doubt they would deal with him once he was given the DP. I've always hoped he'd do the right thing and tell them where her body is so her family can have closure. I don't care if they decide to simply let him rot in a cell for the rest of his life as long as he gives them her body back.

 

[Gardenista]

This was an emotional day for volunteers, who searched for Sierra and who sat through many days of a 13-week-long trial to show their support to the LaMar family. One of them has a special place in his heart for Sierra. "Sierra is everybody's daughter. She's become our daughter. She's made a big impact on all of us, she's brought us together," volunteer search leader Douglas Tollis said.


The penalty phase is not expected to be a quick process as both the defense and prosecution will be given the opportunity to tell the jury why they believe Garcia-Torres should or should not be given life in prison, without the possibility of parole or the death sentence. That process could take up to a month.

http://abc7news.com/news/jury-finds-antolin-garcia-torres-guilty-in-sierra-lamar-case/1971336/

Up to a month?? WTH???

 

[lisette]

So glad that the jury saw the truth and Sierra got justice! Now I just pray that she will be found and brought home.

 

[krkrjx]

I can almost hear his attorney already going into the penalty phase claiming his client "would love to tell where Sierra is and ease her family's pain but he cannot because, as an innocent man, he does not know where she is."

If it's worth a try, they'll try it. And in a way, I hope they do try something disgusting like that because it would do nothing for the killer and would likely just further inflame the jurors.

 

[Karinna]

I can almost hear his attorney already going into the penalty phase claiming his client "would love to tell where Sierra is and ease her family's pain but he cannot because, as an innocent man, he does not know where she is."

If it's worth a try, they'll try it. And in a way, I hope they do try something disgusting like that because it would do nothing for the killer and would likely just further inflame the jurors.

Yes i'm sure his attorney will try and spin it like that, because after everything settles down after the sentencing phase and he is incarcerated for a while, there will more than likely be appeals in the future, so his defense attorney will have to pretend the jurors got it wrong i suppose, to try and appeal for a lesser sentence at some stage.

 

[simlyme]

Sierra, Some justice was served today, I say some, because you are still out there somewhere. Let it be known that no matter what, you are a shining star and we hope your remains can be found, but, if not, your spirit is always with us. You will always be in your family and friend's hearts. You were so young and had a whole life ahead of you, you were only a child teen who still had so much to go through and that makes you an innocent child. I know your family will keep all those memories that you gave them close to their hearts, Sierra, you ARE OUR shining star. Sleep with the angels, sweetheart, you have earned your wings.

You have taught me so much in the last 5 years as I bring up my teenager. I wish I didn't have to learn some things through you, you are very special to me and so many. :heartbeat::heartbeat::heartbeat::heartbeat::star1:

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Up to a month?? WTH???

Good morning everyone!

This timeline is very typical in the sentencing phase of death penalty cases in CA. The second phase of the trial will be like a mini-trial.

What is most interesting to me in these second phases is everything AGT has ever done wrong in the past will be brought to light.

During the guilt phase often the presiding Judge finds particular pieces of evidence too prejudicial for the jurors to hear and know about. This is done of course to make sure he received a fair trial. That goes away once he is found guilty. I wouldn't be surprised if the investigators uncovered other things about AGT during their investigation that did not come in the guilt phase.

There will be also emotional witness impact statements made by those affected by Sierra's murder and I suppose AGTs family will make a statement asking that his life be spared.

The DA has to bring in everything he can to show why AGT deserves death.

The worst decision any defense attorney can make is to tell the jurors to their face that their defendant is innocent after the jury has looked at all of the evidence entered, and came to a unanimous decision of guilt. That is like telling them all they are too stupid to get the right verdict.

However, Lopez, may try it anyway. Insulting the jurors' intelligence didn't seem to matter to him during the guilt phase when he tried to convince them Sierra was just a runaway and nothing more. Or if she was murdered someone else did it even though it was his client's DNA that was found along with hers.

Plus a lot of times in CA trials are not held all day long.

Now if this case had been tried in my home state of Georgia a death penalty case would have been over in three weeks for high profile cases and less for those who weren't. That would including both phases but here the Judges hold court everyday for 8-10 hours a day and even holds court on Saturdays to move the cases along. I have even seen some cases held on Sunday after church if the jury is in deliberations at the time and the Judges let the jurors work long hours in the deliberation room if that is what they are wanting to do.

So there is a big difference in how other states handle murder trials and how CA does it.

JMO

 

[Niner]

Regarding the searches - I wish the DA or whomever would give the soil samples, lichen seeds, etc. to a forensic team so they can at least narrow down "where" she might be.

Rest in peace Sierra :rose:

 

[SurfCity]

Can anyone think of anything that AGT can say to help avoid the death penalty? What mitigating circumstances can he use? Rough childhood(father in jail). Mental illness? He hasn't shown any remorse. I suppose that they can say he has a child who will be impacted. I don't know if there is any good reason for not receiving the full penalty when he took away Sierra's innocent life....

 

[Paulas88]

I can think of one thing... giving up the location of Sierra's body.

 

[krkrjx]

Can anyone think of anything that AGT can say to help avoid the death penalty? What mitigating circumstances can he use? Rough childhood(father in jail). Mental illness? He hasn't shown any remorse. I suppose that they can say he has a child who will be impacted. I don't know if there is any good reason for not receiving the full penalty when he took away Sierra's innocent life....

I bet they try to tug at the heartstrings of jurors by using his kids. He has two, one born after his arrest and the other was under 2 years at time of his arrest. So they are young children yet, and it is not uncommon for a killer's family to exploit children in this way. It worked for Marissa DeVault...that was in Arizona but imo Arizona is even tougher in sentencing that Cali.

His two kids are innocent victims of their murderer father. I hope they are not used to try to help him but it would not surprise me to see it.

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Regarding the searches - I wish the DA or whomever would give the soil samples, lichen seeds, etc. to a forensic team so they can at least narrow down "where" she might be.

Rest in peace Sierra :rose:

I wish a soil expert would donate their time to help the family narrow their search. Perhaps a ex-FBI agent who specialized in this field.

But what was found concerning the debris/soil may not even narrow down the location after all even if an expert looked at what was found. The soil could also contain other materials in its make up that weren't found. So this is most likely not a full composite of the soil sample where he discarded her remains.

What was found may be so commonly found in almost every area around there leaving them to look for that needle in a haystack again and not knowing which haystack she is in. There may be so many areas with these exact same soil deposits that it doesn't further the search when trying to find her.

You would think Marc Klass would know someone willing to help the family if he believed the soil testing would assist in narrowing down the location. That is why I think they all know out there it really doesn't put them any closer to finding Sierra than they have been.

If it was really uncommon and only seen in certain specific areas I think the searchers would have gone to those locations and so would the investigators who wanted Sierra's remains to be found and brought home.

It would have made the DAs case even more simple if they had located her even though missing body cases are being successfully won now over and over again in the last 15-20 years or so.

These soil deposits that attached may be over a hundred miles away from where she was kidnapped. They would literally have to know all of the soil components in every county in that area since they really have no clue how far he traveled in order to discard her body.

IMO

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Can anyone think of anything that AGT can say to help avoid the death penalty? What mitigating circumstances can he use? Rough childhood(father in jail). Mental illness? He hasn't shown any remorse. I suppose that they can say he has a child who will be impacted. I don't know if there is any good reason for not receiving the full penalty when he took away Sierra's innocent life....

The huge problem he has is the mitigating factors must outweigh all of the aggravating factors. Having a bad childhood, or he is a dad, is not going to be nearly enough to overcome the aggravating factors in this case.

In fact I think a lot of the jurors were most likely parents themselves and knew Lopez was feeding them a line of bull when he said Sierra was a runaway.

If he plays the dad card then the jury will think he really cared very little about his children for if he did he wouldn't have been targeting a 15 year old to kidnap, rape, and murder in the first place.

IMO

 

[Paulas88]

IMO, AGT will get the DP.

 

[katydid23]

IMO, AGT will get the DP.

In Cali, the DP is a joke. No one is ever really given the Death Penalty. They languish on Death Row, get extra privileges and attention, and nothing ever happens.

 

[keptbycats]

In Cali, the DP is a joke. No one is ever really given the Death Penalty. They languish on Death Row, get extra privileges and attention, and nothing ever happens.

This is pretty much how I feel. I don't think putting the DP on the table will give him any extra incentive to give up any information on where Sierra may be.

I think, sadly, the only hope of finding her is that somehow, someway, somewhere, someday, someone may randomly come across her remains. I really hope that day comes.

 

[leighmarker]

Just look at Scott Peterson, he was given the death penalty...how many years ago? How many years has AGT strung out this trial. Years.... Doubt AGT will give up her location

ALL IMO

 

[krkrjx]

I think AGT and his lawyer will keep on pretending that he is innocent and appeals are sure to happen over the next umpteen years attacking the evidence used to convict. If he gives up where he put Sierra he can't claim that he is an innocent man being persecuted. I will be very surprised indeed if he ever owns any of what he has done.

 

[SurfCity]

I am not a scientist, botanist or geologist but I would suspect that most soil/plant samples would tend to give you a general area of where to search and not specific to a particular body of water. I could be wrong tho... I do remember seeing in a couple of articles that a large amount of area was search for Sierra.


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/06/sierra-lamar-divers-final-search.html

Sheriff's Sgt. Jose Cardoza told the newspaper that the reservoir, along with Chesbro Reservoir, was one of the first searched after the girl's disappearance because they were closest to her home. Since then, he said, investigators have combed "just about every waterway" within a 12-mile radius of where the teenager was last seen.

 

[Alice253]

It appears that the University of California pretty much runs the California agricultural extension offices throughout the state, just from my quick Google search. I would think that the soil samples could be sent to them and hopefully they have a database that would identify the areas that particular soil composition would be located? ?? Just throwing this idea out there. Could be too involved, IDK.

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