Sierra LaMar retrial: Search volunteers recount finding her cellphone, clothing
Sierra LaMar retrial: Witness testimony begins
The retrial of Antolin Garcia-Torres entered its second week on Monday. Prosecutors are again trying to use a mountain of circumstantial evidence to prove he killed Sierra LaMar in 2012.
MORGAN HILL, Calif. - The retrial of Antolin Garcia-Torres entered its second week Monday with testimony revisiting the search for Sierra LaMar, who disappeared in March 2012 while walking to a bus stop near her Morgan Hill home.
Volunteer recounts finding Sierra LaMar’s cellphone
What they're saying:
Roland Belasco testified that he was searching a field near Santa Teresa and Scheller avenues when he spotted LaMar’s cellphone. He said he had been moving back and forth across the muddy terrain when he noticed the device. Belasco was on the volunteer search and rescue team that was looking for LaMar at the time of her disappearance.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Al Lopez questioned Belasco about how close he got to the phone before stopping.
Belasco acknowledged he may have approached within about three feet but said he never touched it and followed his training to preserve a potential crime scene.
Prosecutors build case that LaMar was abducted
Dig deeper:
Prosecutors are again presenting circumstantial evidence to establish that LaMar, then 15, was kidnapped rather than running away.
Legal analyst Steven Clark said prosecutors want jurors to understand that the circumstances surrounding LaMar’s disappearance point to an abduction.
"Even though it’s 14 years later, the prosecution wants to demonstrate to this jury that Sierra LaMar was not a runaway," Clark said.
The defense, meanwhile, is expected to challenge the prosecution’s interpretation of the evidence and offer alternative explanations for what happened.
Clark said the defense could question whether the cellphone was discarded at the location where it was found or brought there from somewhere else.
A second search and rescue volunteer, Albert Wackermann, also testified about his training in preserving potential crime scenes. He described finding a black-and-pink bag containing LaMar’s clothing next to a shed.
Jurors also heard testimony read into the record from computer forensics specialist Douglas Kubik, who testified during Garcia-Torres’ first trial and has since died.
The retrial continues Tuesday in Santa Clara County Superior Court.
LaMar’s body has never been found.
The Source: Court proceedings during the second week of Antolin Garcia-Torres’ retrial in the Sierra LaMar case, including testimony from volunteers who searched for LaMar after her disappearance.