No death row for killer of Morgan Hill teen

SAN JOSE — More than five years after Sierra LaMar vanished while on her way to her school bus stop, a jury on Monday recommended that her killer spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The result fell short of what prosecutors and Sierra’s family had wanted: the death penalty for 26-year-old Antolin Garcia-Torres. But the same jury that convicted him rejected that option — a result one expert said was not surprising given Sierra’s body hasn’t been found.

Garcia-Torres will be sentenced in mid-September in Santa Clara County Superior Court by Judge Vanessa A. Zecher, who presided over the whole four-month trial.

Prosecutors had argued the jury should opt for death because it was the only punishment that could capture the horror of the 15-yearold’s final moments. And many in the packed courtroom anticipated that would be the verdict because the same jury — which took only two days to find Garcia-Torres guilty — also reached a decision on the penalty in the same short amount of time.

But without Sierra’s body, a murder weapon or witness statements, the prosecution argument proved unpersuasive. The defense reminded the jury that other girls who went missing and were believed dead instead turned out to have been kidnapped and later were found alive, including California’s Jaycee Dugard.

When the clerk announced the verdict, Sierra’s father Steve LaMar, bowed his head, but none of Sierra or Garcia-Torres’ relatives reacted audibly. Sierra’s family supported District Attorney Jeff Rosen’s decision to pursue the death penalty.

Outside the Hall of Justice, Steve LaMar thanked jurors but acknowledged feeling let down.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed,” he said. “(Garcia-Torres) will be able to breathe, to eat, to see his family. We’ll grieve the rest of our lives.”

Relatively few “no body” homicide cases go to trial, but prosecutors nationwide have won nearly 90 percent of the 480 that have since 1819, according to former federal prosecutor Tad DiBiase, who maintains a database. However, only 33, or about 7 percent, have resulted in a death penalty sentence, he said. No figures are available for how often it was sought.