GUILTY FL - Sarah Boone, 42, charged with murdering boyfriend Jorge Torres, 42, by leaving him locked in suitcase, Winter Park, Feb 2020 #3

[arielilane]

"We were very happy to gain some closure for the Torres family." ASA Dave Cacciatore Jr. and ASA William Jay speak out after the guilty verdict for #SarahBoone in the #SuitcaseMurderTrial.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1850010440543154366

 

[fridaybaker]

Late to the party here, but when I tried to google videos/texts showing her being abusive, the most I found was a video showing him beating a TV with a baseball bat, which was described in the headline as evidence that he was a violent person. Can anyone point me in the direction of videos that show HER being violent? TIA!

(And, apologize for the late entry into the case here! I know it can be frustrating when members show up "after the fact" and ask questions!)

 

[cujenn81]

The idea came from the 1st lawyer and psychologist she had after getting arrested. Owens simple did what SB wanted as he was private, even if it didn't make much sense. Public defendents didn't want anything to do with it and walked away. SB was willing to go pro se with her strategy. Owens just legalized what she wanted as he's getting paid. MOO

It was technically her 2nd lawyer but was the first lawyer she really worked with and he was actually hired by SB. (I’m not sure with what money.) She was initially assigned a public defender but the PD withdrew when she hired Mauricio Padilla.

Padilla was the attorney that originally procured Dr. Harper (the battered spouse expert who testified for the defense). He was her lawyer for two years (March 2020 - May 2022). But even he requested to withdraw, citing irreconcilable differences. SB initially objected to his request to withdraw, so the court ordered Padilla to amend his request to be more specific about the irreconcilable differences. SB admitted in court there was a lack of trust between them.

In the amended motions to withdraw, Padilla said that his relationship with SB had become so adversarial that he could no longer fairly represent her. He said he could not offer specifics about the adversarial relationship because it would prejudice SB. At the second hearing, he told the judge he had no other choice but to withdraw due to ethical concerns. At that point SB also wanted to terminate Padilla as her attorney. So, Padilla was allowed to withdraw and the assigned attorney merry-go-round began.

Adobe Acrobat

acrobat.adobe.com

 

[cujenn81]

Owens had said that SB "is not prepared" for the sentencing.

I laughed when he kept saying "I think"

"I think the videos with Sarah & Jorge affected the jury"

"Sarah was berating him a little bit, talking down to him"

He thinks?

He must have seen the same thing the reporter saw who said the jury was talking more notes while watching those videos than any other part of the trial.

 

[arielilane]

Attorney Owens plans to call Dr. Harper (at sentencing next month) to speak about SB's other mental health issues she struggles with and are hoping the court will consider that.

imo, the 13+ minute video was interesting

Additionally...

Sarah Boone is a convicted murderer
Justice for Jorge Torres
I take no pride in that, only that justice served

#SarahBoone's defense attorney, James Owens, joins Court TV after her conviction of second-degree murder in the death of #JorgeTorres Jr.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1850011365651419192

 

[Seattle1]

Starts about 14 minute mark:

2017-DR-016600-O : BOONE, BRIAN C vs. BOONE, SARAH K

Listening to his recorded interview with first responding officer, Brian B must feel blessed every day knowing how close he came to being the man in the suitcase! BB petitioned to divorce SB on 11/30/2017 and final judgement entered on 6/15/2018. In BB own words, he had no life because he was always on call for SB's next disaster, emergency, crisis... We know SB was unemployed, and essentially financially dependent on BB's divorce settlement payments.

Seems since her arrest and incarceration, SB became upset with BB and petitioned to reopen her divorce from BB around April 2022-- alleging violence and abuse by BB and whatever else she could think of after BB stopped or threatened to stop making the alimony/settlement payments!

I guess SB hoped to be stockpiling money paid to her from BB for her release at acquittal. Fortunately, that's never going to happen. As for continuing to get money out of BB, the last action on the re-opened divorce docket was June 2024, but the files can only be viewed in person at the Clerk of Courts office. Looks like a lot of "SB letters" written to the Court. SB is truly a menace. BB and son need to do a total disconnect with this woman. Good riddance! MOO

 

[cujenn81]

Late to the party here, but when I tried to google videos/texts showing her being abusive, the most I found was a video showing him beating a TV with a baseball bat, which was described in the headline as evidence that he was a violent person. Can anyone point me in the direction of videos that show HER being violent? TIA!

(And, apologize for the late entry into the case here! I know it can be frustrating when members show up "after the fact" and ask questions!)

Videos of SB being mentally and psychologically abusive to JT and exerting coercive control begin at 8:22:24:

 

[Izzylizzy]

Starts about 14 minute mark:

BB also doesn't show any emotion that JT is dead.
I did hear BB say that he did have something in progress with her lawyer because SB wasn't picking up there son from school when she was scheduled to do so.

Still IMO: about BB..too little much too late.

 

[Izzylizzy]

The judge will decide sentencing next month for the convicted murderer Sarah Boone.

In my opinion, the judge will give SB life in prison. SB never ever, not once at any time during trial showed any remorse for the crime she committed. She actually tried to justify her actions for her crime through her attorney. She is a danger to society and should never be free to enjoy freedom again.
She did not allow Jorge Torres any freedom.

Even if SB threw herself on the judge's mercy I don't believe it would make any difference.
When Jorge's love ones make their "impact statements" at her sentencing they do so without SB's attorneys being able to object.

I'm curious if appealing a life sentence w/o parole makes it easier to win an appeal than if it was a 35ish yr sentence w/o parole?

 

[Izzylizzy]

Late to the party here, but when I tried to google videos/texts showing her being abusive, the most I found was a video showing him beating a TV with a baseball bat, which was described in the headline as evidence that he was a violent person. Can anyone point me in the direction of videos that show HER being violent? TIA!

(And, apologize for the late entry into the case here! I know it can be frustrating when members show up "after the fact" and ask questions!)

Posters are very generous here, I've showed up on a few threads that posters have been following from the get-go and while having no background information they answered my questions and corrected my misconceptions.

They still are in this case.

 

[cottonweaver]

BB also doesn't show any emotion that JT is dead.
I did hear BB say that he did have something in progress with her lawyer because SB wasn't picking up there son from school when she was scheduled to do so.

Still IMO: about BB..too little much too late.

Funny you should say that. I only had one query on that police interview ( I watched it when it was first released and then just rewatched it) Why does he laugh?
Is it because he'd spent so long being abused by her in the past, that he's kinda numb? Or is he nervous and in shock? ( He's just seen a dead human in a horrific death-by-suitcase shocker)

 

[Izzylizzy]

It was technically her 2nd lawyer but was the first lawyer she really worked with and he was actually hired by SB. (I’m not sure with what money.) She was initially assigned a public defender but the PD withdrew when she hired Mauricio Padilla.

Padilla was the attorney that originally procured Dr. Harper (the battered spouse expert who testified for the defense). He was her lawyer for two years (March 2020 - May 2022). But even he requested to withdraw, citing irreconcilable differences. SB initially objected to his request to withdraw, so the court ordered Padilla to amend his request to be more specific about the irreconcilable differences. SB admitted in court there was a lack of trust between them.

In the amended motions to withdraw, Padilla said that his relationship with SB had become so adversarial that he could no longer fairly represent her. He said he could not offer specifics about the adversarial relationship because it would prejudice SB. At the second hearing, he told the judge he had no other choice but to withdraw due to ethical concerns. At that point SB also wanted to terminate Padilla as her attorney. So, Padilla was allowed to withdraw and the assigned attorney merry-go-round began.

Adobe Acrobat

acrobat.adobe.com

I can only imagine the reaction of all the attorneys that came before Owens when they heard the verdict.

Imo: it could be something like,

"not only did she do it to herself when she killed JT she did it to herself getting the 2nd degree conviction too by not taking the plea deal".

 

[Izzylizzy]

Funny you should say that. I only had one query on that police interview ( I watched it when it was first released and then just rewatched it) Why does he laugh?
Is it because he'd spent so long being abused by her in the past, that he's kinda numb? Or is he nervous and in shock? ( He's just seen a dead human in a horrific death-by-suitcase shocker)

His laughing could be nerves from getting slapped in the face with the evidence that his son's mother could have killed some one.

I have no idea how or why one becomes a dangerous enabler.

What I do know is that BB was still letting his son be with SB & JT while well aware of the danger he was exposing him to, emotionally and physically.

 

[Seattle1]

His laughing could be nerves from getting slapped in the face with the evidence that his son's mother could have killed some one.

I have no idea how or why one becomes a dangerous enabler.

What I do know is that BB was still letting his son be with SB & JT while well aware of the danger he was exposing him to, emotionally and physically.

The shy laugh is called 20+ years of abuse and control by SB! The fact he refers to SB's "claws" and his scratches to his neck and arm was deja vu the injuries police would describe they'd observe on JT during his arrest but he'd refuse to name SB as the source of his injuries.

Here he was, three years post separation/divorce from SB and BB was still tethered to SB's beck and call or live the wrath of SB. Only now can this man and his son truly begin to heal by complete freedom from SB, knowing she will not be released and won't be showing up at their door, unannounced as the countless times before. MOO

 

[SoWhat]

I imagine the first thing the jury did was poll themselves for guilty of murder 2, everyone’s hands shot up and that was that.

Knowing what we know now it certainly seems like SB’s attorney troubles were about what everyone assumed them to be. She was taking an untenable position that wouldn’t succeed in court while an extremely generous plea deal sat on the table and she wouldn’t accept it. Owens appears to have prevented a couple bad decisions on her part (those times where the judge had her acknowledge that her attorneys make trial decisions and they had decided against some things that she wanted to be admitted into evidence that they did not - IE JT’s medical records) but he couldn’t talk her into taking the plea.

also MOO but it seems like she wanted an attorney that was going to treat her like the waifish victim she so often pretended to be in those body cam videos as well as a victim of an unjust criminal justice system as she threw wrench after wrench into it. Look what you made me do Florida! I had no choice but to make personal and professional attacks upon the attorneys and judges on my case! She didn’t fully get that kind of hand holding, loving, credulous support from her lawyers until Owens rolled into town. Her other attorneys were likely more blunt with her. Murder 2 fit the evidence against her perfectly and it’s crazy she didn’t recognize that she would be given a sweet deal from the state if she had chosen not to go to trial.

As I said before, the woman seemed to believe she had god on her side but any divine intervention in this case was not in her favor and rightly so.

Strange as it may seem SB turned out to be an even worse person than I thought and that’s saying something since it’s clear in the videos we already had prior to the trial that she was awful. She tormented and insulted everything Jorge did and everyone he cared about.

Boone withholds documents that JT needs to cash his paychecks then accuses him of stealing money from her child’s adventure fund. Where was that money even coming from? She got $1k/month in alimony and given how much they drink and smoke cigarettes I can’t imagine that went toward much else.

Boone then goes off on JT and tells him all of his children are bad people and that her one child is better than all 3 of them put together. One of his children is disabled, another (Destiny - the one Sarah actually named and claimed was violent) was only 11 or 12 at the time. The other she was as manipulative to and insulting as she was to the other adult Torres family members whose contact info she had. Sarah Boone had the audacity to claim JT’s 3 kids were going to come after her and kill her, that they were racist, and that they were jealous of her. His son is disabled, one of his daughters was 11 or 12 years old at the time that Sarah was alleging they were violent thugs, and his other grown daughter was perfectly mature when talking with Sarah as far as we can tell. To cap it all off his kids and ex-wife lived in Philadelphia the entire time. She repeated this total nonsense drunk and sober, it didn’t matter. His ex-wife even invited her to one of the children’s birthday parties, that doesn’t sound like they’ve hated her from the beginning because JT loves her more than he loved them and she’s a white woman.

I can’t imagine the things Sarah Boone’s son was put through that he kept to himself either by choice or because his mother coerced him to in some way. Wouldn’t put anything past Sarah Boone, not even when it comes to her own child. Her invoking his name as much as she did was supremely selfish of her. She used him against other people. She also accused Brian of exposing their son to her drunken antics by showing up when she herself needed help and had their son with him. I have no idea if that’s true but if it is it’s likely because she rendered Brian a single parent and she was so erratic he couldnt arrange childcare on the fly like that and he couldn’t leave his son unsupervised either. The alternative is Sarah shows up at his door which is also not ideal. At least if he’s in the vehicle going to where Sarah is he doesn’t have to worry about getting her out of his house. She also doesn’t seem to think it’s a big deal that she actually did show up drunk at least once on their doorstep (the video was played at trial, it was the one where she made Brian come bring her her spare key). She must think it’s fine for her kid to see her drunk and interacting with the police over alleged violence from a man who she claims is a belligerent alcoholic yet had no issues letting him be around and help parent her son.

SB’s a step-monster and an unfit mother to her son. She blames Brian for her child not wanting to talk to her, that Brian said she’s a murderer (when she murdered her boyfriend and filmed it and her trial is such a spectacle that the video is played on local news) and she blames Brian when their son says she only calls when she needs money. I’m thinking that it was probably typical of Sarah to call Brian more often for money than to see or speak to their son long before she was incarcerated. There has probably been many a time where she used up all her allotted call times to try to bully Brian or any of her lawyers or her brother or whoever into doing things that they couldn’t do for her. If she had been such a great mother I don’t think that her son would have grown so cold to her even with the separation due to her arrest.

Victims impact statements will be painful as they always are of course. Don’t know if Sarah Boone is going to speak and if she does if she’ll be remotely contrite or if she’ll double down on everything. My guess is she will double down. Kraynick’s sentencing argument is gonna be good. I will be shocked if he gives her the minimum and not the max.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

The idea came from the 1st lawyer and psychologist she had after getting arrested. Owens simple did what SB wanted as he was private, even if it didn't make much sense. Public defendents didn't want anything to do with it and walked away. SB was willing to go pro se with her strategy. Owens just legalized what she wanted as he's getting paid. MOO

So true, it was the Psychologist of the first lawyer who proposed this idea - the so called 'expert witness' Julie Harper. I understand now why she clung onto this inapplicable and incorrect theory in court, lecturing everyone on something that clearly described JT's suffering and not SB's. None of it made sense. She had created a monster. One that didn't have any 'legs' whilst SB was being refused legal assistance from the state but one that grew many legs with Owens representing SB.

However, since Owens wasn't being paid... that's fallen a bit flat. Perhaps he could look to take legal action against Ms Harper for getting him in deep financial trouble and tarnishing his reputation, if indeed he had a good reputation.

ETA: I recall there is footage somewhere of Owens stating that he showed SB information about BSS and that is when SB came to realise this what what had happened and changed her defence to 'intentional because BSS'. So, it's on Owens albeit he got the idea from Dr Julie Harper.

JMO MOO

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

You are incorrect. SB was going for “battered spouse” from the get-go. She had it when she represented herself. It was not Owens idea. He presented it for the court, but it was all Sarah.

I'm starting to realised this is the case, despite the fact that Owens said he had persuaded SB she had BSS and that is why she changed her plea. So he did have some influence.

However, as I said above, the person who started all this was the psychologist who concocted a wildly inaccurate assessment of SB in pretty much the opinion of everyone. This is why Psychology is not considered to be a 'science' but a pseudo-science and not covered in law. It's cost a lot of money to tax payers for that woman to spout on about a theory that is only something someone wrote in a book 50 years ago. Perhaps they should take their jobs a bit more seriously when this is the sort of consequence it has. JMO MOO

 

[RickshawFan]

His laughing could be nerves from getting slapped in the face with the evidence that his son's mother could have killed some one.

I have no idea how or why one becomes a dangerous enabler.

What I do know is that BB was still letting his son be with SB & JT while well aware of the danger he was exposing him to, emotionally and physically.

He might not have had a choice. There was a legal custody arrangement.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Late to the party here, but when I tried to google videos/texts showing her being abusive, the most I found was a video showing him beating a TV with a baseball bat, which was described in the headline as evidence that he was a violent person. Can anyone point me in the direction of videos that show HER being violent? TIA!

(And, apologize for the late entry into the case here! I know it can be frustrating when members show up "after the fact" and ask questions!)

There's a lot of youtubers who livestreamed commentary whilst the 'official' livestream from court was being broadcast on various authorized channels, if you see what I mean. You can find them out in the wild or the verified links to Law & Crime etc up thread in here. They showed the full content of everything the jury saw with the exception of some photos that Owens had mounted up to show.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Attorney Owens plans to call Dr. Harper (at sentencing next month) to speak about SB's other mental health issues she struggles with and are hoping the court will consider that.

imo, the 13+ minute video was interesting

Additionally...

Sarah Boone is a convicted murderer
Justice for Jorge Torres
I take no pride in that, only that justice served

#SarahBoone's defense attorney, James Owens, joins Court TV after her conviction of second-degree murder in the death of #JorgeTorres Jr.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1850011365651419192

Post conviction, is anybody really interested in anything Owens or Dr Harper have to say on the subject of SB? I think they've wasted enough of tax payer's money and everyone's willingness. Does Harper have any credibility that anyone cares of her opinions?

It would be one thing to say we have proof this woman was so badly harmed in her childhood that she is one of those rare people who grew up into a sociopath, so please show mercy (ie no death penalty, no whole life sentence) -but- to sit and say it was being assaulted by JT that made her into a violent drunken abuser when she was doing all that stuff before she ever met him would be an outrage IMO.

JMO I would like to see a whole life sentence as I think SB is one of those rare people who has some of her brain wiring missing and zero empathy combined with violence and dishonesty. What to do with someone like that? Keep us all safe from them.