SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — Defense attorneys for Antolin Garcia-Torres, the man previously convicted of kidnapping and murdering 15-year-old Sierra LaMar in Morgan Hill, are using aggressive tactics leading up to his retrial.
A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge recently granted the defense team’s request for a speedy trial, which is now scheduled to begin on June 29. Earlier this year, Garcia-Torres’ murder conviction was overturned by appellate court judges who determined his 2017 trial was tarnished by “insufficient evidence” and missteps by prosecutors.
For the retrial, prosecutors are barred from telling the new jury that the killing was a planned “premeditated” murder, the California Court of Appeal ruled. Prosecutors are also barred from using three attempted kidnappings, committed against other women outside a Morgan Hill Safeway grocery store in 2009, as evidence.
LaMar vanished on March 16, 2012. That morning, she got ready for school, left home, and missed catching her school bus. Her body has never been found. LaMar’s pink purse and clothing were found on the side of a road near her bus stop…