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A prosecutor seeking the death penalty for Antolin Garcia Torres, who killed 15-year-old Sierra LaMar after kidnapping her from her Morgan Hill home, told the jury May 30 that placing him on death row is the only “just and moral” verdict in the trial’s penalty phase.
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Garcia Torres’ defense attorney, on the other hand, appealed to the jury’s sense of “mercy and compassion” in his request for a sentence of life in prison without parole for the convicted murderer.
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The same jury convicted Garcia Torres May 9 of murdering Sierra. Over the last two weeks, the jury has listened intently to more testimony about Garcia Torres’ background and the impact that Sierra’s death has had on her family and the community at large.
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“What is the one just verdict that can reflect the enormity of what (Garcia Torres) did to Sierra LaMar March 16, 2012?” Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney David Boyd rhetorically asked the jury during closing arguments May 30 at the Hall of Justice in San Jose. “What verdict captures the horror of what happened to her over the next minutes and hours (after her disappearance)?”
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Sierra disappeared while she was walking to her school bus stop near the intersection of Palm and Dougherty avenues, according to testimony and arguments during the guilt phase of the trial. She was a sophomore at Sobrato High School at the time.
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The teen’s remains have not been found.
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The only two sentencing options available to the jury in the capital murder case are the death penalty and life in prison without the possibility for parole. The jury began deliberating on the choice after the attorneys’ May 30 closing arguments.
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Boyd frequently referred to a sentence of life in prison as “the minimum” penalty for Garcia Torres. He also asked the jury to decline to show any “mercy” for Garcia Torres, because he did not do so for Sierra. Boyd listed the victims of Garcia Torres’ murder as not just Sierra and her family, but also the communities of Morgan Hill and Fremont—where Sierra moved from just months before she vanished—and “the citizens of Santa Clara County.”
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“Does the taking and killing of a 15-year-old, 100-pound child on her way to her school bus stop warrant the minimum punishment?” Boyd said. “Does this defendant deserve anything less than what he gave to Sierra Lamar?”
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Defense attorney Brian Matthews noted during his closing argument that the law does not require the jury to hand down a sentence of death under any circumstances.
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“You can decide to spare Antolin’s life because of mercy, sympathy, his child (and) exposure to violence and poverty,” Matthews told the jury.
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He explained that anyone “can have positive virtues even if (they’re) convicted of a serious crime.” Garcia Torres’ family members who testified during the penalty phase noted that he has been a loving and responsible son, family member, friend and father to his two small children.
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Matthews also assured the jury that life in prison is not an easy punishment for anyone, and Garcia Torres “will die in prison” if they choose that sentence. “Never again will he have the privilege of being with his daughters,” Matthews said. “It is a punishment that never ends until the day he dies.”
Aggravating and mitigating
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Judge Vanessa Zecher instructed the jury to consider a list of “aggravating and mitigating factors and circumstances” related to Garcia Torres’ murder conviction and his background.
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Aggravating circumstances, which the jury could cite to support a verdict in favor of death, include Garcia Torres’ criminal history. This history includes the three attempted kidnappings in the parking lots of two Safeway stores in Morgan Hill in 2009, for which he was also found guilty May 9. He was also previously convicted for misdemeanor battery.
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Another aggravating factor could be the noose-like contraption Garcia Torres made in his holding cell with a plastic bag while waiting to attend the Sierra LaMar trial earlier this month.
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According to testimony during the guilt phase, a sheriff’s deputy noticed Garcia Torres threw the potential weapon in the trash on his way out of the holding cell when he was released to go to court. He was not charged with a crime in relation to the fabrication of the noose.
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Matthews said the fact he trashed it shows Garcia Torres was not planning to use the device as a weapon.
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Mitigating factors, according to Matthews, include Garcia Torres’ background growing up in poverty, substandard housing and a home fraught with domestic violence. His mother testified during the penalty phase that Antolin’s father, Genaro Garcia, frequently abused her physically and was an alcoholic.
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His father is now in prison on a conviction for 17 counts of sexual assault related to his molestation of a female relative.
