Jury selection expected to start Monday in Garcia-Torres case
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (BCN) - Jury selection is expected to start Monday for a 25-year-old man who allegedly kidnapped and killed a teenage girl missing since 2012 out of unincorporated Morgan Hill and attempted to kidnap three other women three years before.
Antolin Garcia-Torres is accused of abducting 15-year-old Sierra Lamar, who was last seen leaving her home for school on March 16, 2012.
Sierra didn't show up to her bus stop that morning and her body hasn't been found in the more than four years since she disappeared.
The girl's cellphone recovered in a field south of San Jose and
Juicy purse and clothes were found two days after she went missing.
Garcia-Torres was identified as a suspect in May 2012 when
Sierra's DNA was detected in his red Volkswagen Jetta.
Last month, Superior Court Judge Vanessa Zecher denied a motion brought by Garcia-Torres' attorneys who sought a separate trial for charges he's facing in three attempted kidnappings from 2009 at parking lots outside Morgan Hill Safeway grocery stores, which will be heard together with Sierra's case.
Two of the three female victims were assaulted as they were leaving or returning to their cars, and the third victim drove away as the suspect attempted to enter her vehicle, the defense attorneys said.
A stun gun battery found in one of the attempted kidnappings had Garcia-Torres' fingerprint on it, but the three victims didn't identify him as the suspect, according to the defense attorneys.
Prosecutors argued that all the alleged crimes share common themes of intention to kidnap, stalk and assault.
"Although there may be some potential prejudice to the charges remaining joined, the defendant has not made a clear showing of prejudice to support the granting of the Motion of Severance," Zecher wrote in her order.
In August, Zecher decided against holding the trial in another jurisdiction after hearing a change of venue motion brought by the defense attorneys, who argued that Garcia-Torres wouldn't receive a fair trial in Santa Clara County based on how the case is still receiving public attention and resonated with many community members who helped in organized searches for Sierra's body.
The fact that Sierra was a child and "universal daughter" will follow the case wherever it's heard, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Garcia-Torres, who was indicted by a criminal grand jury on all the charges in 2014.