The fate of the man accused of kidnapping and murdering Morgan Hill teen Sierra LaMar could be in the hands of the jury by the end of this week.
Attorneys for the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office and defendant Antolin Garcia Torres delivered closing arguments at the Hall of Justice in San Jose starting May 2, after three months of testimony in the capital murder case.
Sierra disappeared from her home off Dougherty Avenue in north Morgan Hill March 16, 2012. Garcia Torres, 26 of Morgan Hill, was arrested in relation to her disappearance a few weeks later, even though authorities have not found Sierra’s remains or a murder weapon.
Deputy D.A. David Boyd spent all day May 2 reviewing the weeks of testimony and boxes of photos and videos presented in the trial since Jan. 31. He submitted to the jury of six men and six women that Garcia Torres abducted Sierra, killed her and disposed of her remains in a remote area somewhere in wilderness of South County—an area the defendant knows well.
But he made some mistakes along the way that point to his guilt, Boyd argued.
“Dead people don’t speak—that’s what the defendant wanted,” Boyd told the jury. “The only trace of her body was found in this man’s car. He had a plan with Sierra’s body.”
He referred to traces of Sierra’s DNA found in Garcia Torres’ car—a lynchpin in the prosecutor’s case against him. This includes a hair that belonged to Sierra, stuck to a rope found in the trunk of Garcia Torres’ Volkswagen Jetta, as well as the teen’s DNA found on a pair of the defendant’s gloves and on an armrest inside the vehicle, Boyd said.
At one point in his closing argument, with dramatic flair Boyd held up each item of clothing Sierra was wearing the day she disappeared, still wrapped in investigators’ evidence bags. He displayed each article to the jury—San Jose Sharks sweatshirt, jeans, under garments—and said, “He took this off her, and discarded it.” He then tossed each item on the floor in front of the jury box.
“I was shocked at how small Sierra LaMar was when I saw these jeans,” Boyd commented while holding up the garment. The teen was just over five feet tall and about 105 pounds.
Her clothing was found by sheriff’s deputies, discarded off the side of the road not far from her home just days after she disappeared. The items were inside Sierra’s handbag when they were found.
Boyd panned defense attorneys’ “absurd runaway theory” alluded to during the trial’s testimony, noting that Sierra was a typical teenage girl who broadcast her entire life on social media and was wholly dependent on her parents for food, clothing, transportation and spending money. She “adored” her father, Steve LaMar, and loved her friends in Morgan Hill and Fremont, from where she and her mother moved just months before she disappeared.
He showed the jury a video of Sierra being a “goofy” teenager, dancing and making faces in the camera of her Macbook laptop computer. “You would have to accept that Sierra LaMar was mature and sophisticated beyond her years” to believe she ran away, Boyd added.
He referred back to “the note,” a handwritten message scribbled in one of her school notebooks stating she was thinking about running away. Boyd reminded the jury that a handwriting expert testified that the note was not written by Sierra. The note was presented to the Sobrato High School principal by an “unknown” classmate of Sierra’s, several days after she disappeared.
“It was a stupid prank by one of her classmates,” Boyd said.
Sierra was a sophomore at Sobrato when she disappeared. Boyd and investigators think she disappeared while walking to her school bus stop at the intersection of Palm and Dougherty avenues.
Boyd reminded the jury that Garcia Torres’ whereabouts are unaccounted for during a six-hour period the morning Sierra disappeared—from about 7 a.m. to 12:47 p.m. “That gives the defendant a lot of time, for which he has no alibi,” the prosecutor said.
Boyd mocked the defense attorneys’ theory that DNA evidence found by investigators was misplaced due to indirect cross-contamination. He labeled this “the six degrees of separation of Kevin Bacon defense,” because it claims that the DNA was transferred through a chain of incidental contact among several people.
“They’re desperate to explain away this DNA result,” which shows strong statistical probabilities that Sierra’s DNA was found in Garcia Torres’ vehicle, and his genetic material was found on her clothing, Boyd explained. This DNA was analyzed by the D.A.’s crime lab.
Boyd urged the jury to find Garcia Torres guilty of felony murder.
Safeway incidents
Garcia Torres is also accused of three attempted carjackings in the parking lots of two Safeway stores in Morgan Hill in 2009. Boyd reviewed the testimonies of the three female victims during closing arguments May 2.
He reminded the jury that Garcia Torres’ fingerprints were found on a stun gun and the battery inside. The weapon was found at the scene of one of the carjacking attempts, and Boyd said the defendant used the stun gun to subdue his victims.
He called these fingerprints a “conspiracy of improbabilities” as he limned the defense attorney’s attempt during testimony to offer an innocent explanation for the evidence.
Boyd wrapped up his closing argument the morning of May 3.
Al Lopez, attorney for Garcia Torres, began his closing immediately afterward.
According to online reports from news outlets inside the courtroom, Lopez began his closing argument listing the top 10 reasons why Garcia Torres is not guilty. He also held tight to the theory that Sierra ran away from home voluntarily.
If convicted, Garcia Torres could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
After the attorneys finish their closing arguments, the jury will deliberate on a verdict, which they must reach unanimously.
