The Arkansas Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for a death row inmate convicted of rape and chronic child abuse in the death of Maurice “Isaiah” Torres, his 6-year-old son.
According to court testimony, the Torres family woke up on a camping trip in Missouri to Isaiah eating cake for breakfast. The assault that resulted in his death was reported to be his punishment.
The coroner's report stated Isaiah's death was caused by a bacterial infection from the assault.
On November 15, 2016, a Benton County Circuit Court jury convicted Mauricio Alejandro Torres of capital murder and first-degree battery in the death of his six-year-old son. He was sentenced to death.
According to the opinion of the Arkansas Supreme Court, Torres raised nine points on appeal.
Torres' attorneys have said his actions were intended as punishment, not sexual gratification.
In the 4-3 ruling Thursday, justices ruled that Arkansas authorities couldn't use rape as a justification for the capital murder conviction because the assault occurred in Missouri the day before he passed away in Arkansas.
The Supreme Court ruled that Torres should have his conviction overturned and should receive a new trial, reports KFSM, one of our CBS affiliates.
In part, they said the prosecution used an uncharged or unchargeable crime as an aggravating factor to get a conviction, which shouldn’t have been allowed, according to the justices.
They also said the jury’s verdicts forms weren’t specific enough to determine why they were convicting Torres, so the Supreme Court was unable to determine if their decision was based on that uncharged crime.
Torres argued in his appeal that the alleged rape of Isaiah happened in Missouri, not Arkansas.
Under the statute on which he was convicted of the capital crime, the rape felony murder conviction isn’t valid because the underlying felony — rape — didn’t take place in Arkansas and could not have led to a conviction here, and therefore is legally insufficient.
The court decided they had no choice but to overturn the verdict and order a new trial, stating Torres should be remanded for a new trial.