XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.society.liberalism, rec.arts.tv   
   XPost: alt.politics.republicans, talk.politics.guns   
   From: biden_sucks_terrorist_dicks_for_oil@freedyn.de   
      
   An Arkansas father twice found guilty of raping and killing his   
   six-year-old son will face a third trial in the case, after his most   
   recent case ended in a mistrial over a courtroom clash and the first   
   conviction was overturned.   
      
   Mauricio Torres, 50, was initially convicted of capital murder and   
   battery in November 2016 in the death of Isiah Torres, but the   
   Arkansas Supreme Court threw out that ruling in 2019, saying   
   authorities could not use rape as a justification for the murder   
   conviction.   
      
   Torres was convicted again, but a Benton County circuit judge   
   declared a mistrial during the sentencing phase in March 2020 after   
   Torres' stepson jumped from the witness box and lunged at him.   
      
   The state attorney general's office appealed, saying the 2020 guilty   
   verdict should stand but that a third jury could decide Torres'   
   punishment. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.   
      
   On Thursday, the Arkansas Supreme Court rejected that appeal and   
   ordered a new trial, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.   
      
   Attorney General Leslie Rutledge called the latest ruling   
   heartbreaking.   
      
   'Mauricio Torres has been convicted twice of the brutal murder of   
   his son, but this decision means Isaiah's loved ones and the entire   
   community will have to endure a third devastating trial,' she said.   
   'I will do everything in my power to bring justice for Isaiah.'   
      
   Veda Berger, senior assistant attorney general, told the Supreme   
   Court that Judge Brad Karren made a mistake granting a mistrial in   
   the guilty phase for an incident that happened during sentencing.   
      
   Justice Shawn Womack, the only dissenting justice, agreed, stating   
   what happened during the sentencing phase had no bearing on the   
   phase of Torres' trial that decided his guilt.   
      
   But the remaining six high court justices found Karren didn't commit   
   an error and didn't exceed his jurisdiction   
      
   Torres' stepson, Quinton Martin, 24, was testifying in March 2020   
   about his own physical abuse at the hands of his father when he   
   jumped from the witness stand, leaped over a court reporter and made   
   a dash toward Torres and his lawyers, who flipped over the defense   
   table to block his path.   
      
   Following the courtroom outburst, Torres' defense lawyer Jeff   
   Rosenzweig asked the presiding judge to declare a mistrial, arguing   
   that what the jurors saw 'cannot be unseen.'   
      
   After clearing the courtroom and reviewing surveillance video of the   
   incident and relevant case law, Judge Karren granted the motion for   
   a complete mistrial, citing the 'shock on the jurors' faces' when   
   Martin lunged at his stepfather.   
      
   Torres' 2016 conviction and death sentence were overturned by the   
   Arkansas Supreme Court, which ruled 4-3 in April 2019 that Arkansas   
   authorities couldn't use rape as a justification for the murder   
   conviction because the assault occurred in Missouri. Torres' son   
   died at an Arkansas hospital a day after the assault.   
      
   Torres' attorneys have said his actions, which included inserting a   
   stick into his son's rectum, were intended as punishment for eating   
   a piece of cake without permission during a camping trip to   
   Missouri, and the father didn't know they could kill the boy.   
      
   A medical examiner testified that the boy's death was caused by a   
   bacterial infection resulting from sodomy and chronic child abuse.   
      
   Torres was being held without bail in the Benton County jail,   
   pending a March 12 status hearing. Karren issued a gag order   
   prohibiting attorneys from commenting on the case.   
      
   Torres' wife, Cathy, pleaded guilty in 2017 to capital murder for   
   the child's death and was sentenced to life without parole.   
      
   https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9255301/Arkansas-man-   
   twice-convicted-killing-son-faces-3rd-trial.html   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)