Antolin Garcia-Torres, 26, was found guilty by a Santa Clara County Superior Court jury in San Jose Tuesday for the first-degree murder of 15-year-old Sierra LaMar in 2012.
Sierra has not been seen or heard from since March 16, 2012, and Garcia-Torres was arrested on May 21, 2012, after investigators found his DNA on her jeans, which were recovered near where she went missing outside of Morgan Hill.
Sierra’s DNA was also found on an interior backseat door handle and on the outside of a pair of work gloves in Garcia-Torres’ vehicle.
The jury, which began deliberating Thursday morning after a three-month trial and announced that they had reached a verdict Monday afternoon, also convicted Garcia-Torres of the attempted kidnappings of three women in Safeway parking lots in 2009.
More than 100 members of the public attended this morning’s verdict reading, requiring the courthouse to provide a live stream of the proceedings in a second courtroom.
Jurors will now select between a sentence of death or life without the possibility of parole, and prosecutors and defense attorneys will be allowed to present evidence.
Last modified May 9, 2017 9:36 pm
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