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In court yesterday to argue for a new trial for the man convicted of killing Sierra LaMar, defense attorneys unexpectedly filed a motion to disqualify the judge in the case due to a possible conflict of interest from decades ago.
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Al Lopez, attorney for convicted murderer Antolin Garcia Torres, 26 of Morgan Hill, submitted the motion Sept. 14 to disqualify Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Vanessa Zecher because she previously represented a sheriff’s sergeant who played a prominent role in the investigation of Sierra’s disappearance.
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Garcia Torres’ sentencing hearing was scheduled for Sept. 15 at the Hall of Justice in San Jose, the same venue where Thursday’s proceedings were heard. However, due to the unexpected filing of the motion to remove Zecher from the case, the sentencing hearing was postponed, according to news reports.
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Thursday’s hearing was set to argue a separate motion, filed by Lopez Aug. 29, requesting a new trial for Garcia Torres. However, that argument was continued to a future date as well.
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Zecher presided over the four-month trial for Garcia Torres that ended early this summer. That trial ended with the jury finding Garcia Torres guilty of murdering Sierra, who was 15 when she disappeared from her north Morgan Hill home in March 2012. The jury also found Garcia Torres guilty of three unrelated attempted kidnappings in the parking lots of two Safeway stores in Morgan Hill in 2009.
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After convicting Garcia Torres on all charges, the same jury determined he should be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility for parole, rather than the death penalty requested by prosecutors.
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The defense motion to disqualify Zecher relates to the judge’s previous representation of Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Sgt. Herman Leon in a wrongful death lawsuit several years ago. Leon was involved in the killing of Jeffrey Leonti, a mentally ill inmate at the county jail, according to Lopez’ motion. Leon was a jail guard at the time of the incident.
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Leonti’s family subsequently sued the county over the death, according to the court filing. Zecher was working as deputy county counsel at the time, and in that capacity was “assigned to personally represent Sgt. Leon and others in a lawsuit in excess of $1 million.”
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Zecher’s representation of Leon was “substantial,” as she ended up settling the lawsuit for “a fraction of the amount demanded,” the motion argues.
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The motion does not say when Leonti’s death and the subsequent lawsuit took place, but a report by the San Jose Mercury News says the in-custody death occurred in 1989. The settlement was reached in 1991, and cost the county a total of $650,000, according to the Mercury News.
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Lopez’ Sept. 14 motion states that Zecher “never informed defense counsel of her prior representation of Sgt. Leon.” The defense team just learned of Zecher’s role supporting the sheriff’s sergeant in the Leonti lawsuit earlier this week, as they were researching court records for more background on Leon, who is now a key figure in multiple complaints related to the prosecution of Garcia Torres.
Defense: Detective not credible
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Lopez’ Aug. 29 motion for a new trial, which was supposed to be the subject of the Sept. 14 hearing, accuses Leon of “false testimony and fabrication of evidence” in the Sierra case. He allegedly misplaced an envelope containing a number of hairs that were collected during the police investigation of Sierra’s disappearance. He then testified incorrectly during the trial that another evidence exhibit contained the hairs in question, according to the defense motion.
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The Sept. 14 motion identifies Leon as “lead detective and designated investigating officer for the people” in the investigation of Sierra’s murder.
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Furthermore on May 10, the day after the jury found Garcia Torres guilty, “another murder case was granted a new trial based in part on the false testimony of Sgt. Leon,” reads the Aug. 29 motion. In that case, identified as the Pilipina trial, Leon testified that suspects in stabbing murders often wear gloves to protect their hands from cuts and evidence transfer—a sign of premeditation.
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In his Pilipina trial testimony, Leon cited sheriff’s statistics showing that suspects wore gloves during “30 to 40 percent” of the stabbing crimes he reviewed since 2007, according to Lopez. However, research by defense attorneys found that suspects wore gloves in zero stabbing cases during the timeframe identified by Leon.
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“The Pilipina case was the sole case where a stabbing suspect wore gloves during the act, based on witness statements,” Lopez’ motion for a new trial states.
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The Aug. 29 motion also accuses Leon of destroying evidence in the Pilipina case, and claims he admitted doing so during a 2011 preliminary hearing in relation to the murder.
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“The prior false testimony of Sgt. Leon in the Pilipina case is evidence that would impeach his credibility regarding the missing envelope of hair in this (Sierra) case,” Lopez’ motion says.
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The defense attorney argues that because the conviction of Garcia Torres relied on “false evidence” and an unreliable investigator, he should be granted a new trial.
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Sierra was a sophomore at Sobrato High School when she disappeared March 16, 2012. Garcia Torres was arrested by sheriff’s deputies in May 2012 on suspicion of kidnapping and killing the teen.
