State Supreme Court schedules arguments in murder case
BENTONVILLE — Lawyers will deliver arguments next month before the Arkansas Supreme Court on whether a Bella Vista man should be retried entirely in connection with his son’s death or only be resentenced.
Mauricio Alejandro Torres, 50, is charged with capital murder and battery. He has been found guilty twice. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Arguments are set for 10 a.m. Jan. 28. The proceedings will be held via Zoom videoconferencing, and each side will have 20 minutes.
Torres is accused of killing his 6-year-old son. Maurice Isaiah Torres died March 30, 2015, at a Bella Vista medical clinic, according to court documents.
Torres has had two trials on the charges with the first one ending in a death sentence.
At both trials,a medical examiner testified that the boy’s death was caused by a bacterial infection resulting from sodomy and chronic child abuse.
A jury found Torres guilty in early March, but the proceedings came to a quick end after a witness jumped from the jury box and attempted to attack Torres. A Benton County sheriff’s office deputy and a bailiff stopped the witness from reaching Torres.
Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren declared a mistrial and ruled Torres should have another trial.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court to retain the guilty verdicts, so a new jury would only decide the punishment for Torres.
He originally was tried and convicted in 2016 and sentenced to death, but the state Supreme Court overturned the conviction last year and ordered Torres be given a new trial because prosecutors didn’t prove their case for the death penalty.
Torres is being held without bond in the Benton County jail.
Karren has scheduled a status hearing for 9 a.m. March 12.
Cathy Torres, Mauricio Torres’ wife, pleaded guilty in 2016 to capital murder and battery and was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. She testified during Torres’ second trial and blamed her husband for abusing their son.