BENTONVILLE -- Mauricio Torres told a police detective he was about to make him a hero before he confessed to raping his son, which led to the boy's death.
Torres, 46, of Bella Vista is charged with capital murder and first-degree battery. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty. The trial continues today. Prosecutors may call two more witnesses before resting their case.
Maurice Isaiah Torres, 6, died March 30, 2015. A medical examiner concluded the boy's death was the result of injuries from being raped and chronic child abuse.
The jury on Wednesday watched two recordings of Bella Vista Police Capt. Tim Cook interviewing Torres.
Cook interviewed Torres at the Benton County Jail on April 7, 2015. Cook had also interviewed him the previous day. Torres requested that Cook come talk with him. Torres waived his rights and talked with Cook without an attorney present. In the first interview played Wednesday, which lasted 3½ hours, he maintained that his son's death was accidental.
"I'm about to make you a hero of this in Bella Vista," Torres told Cook at the start the second interview.
A upset and seemingly angry Torres said he was going to give Cook information to investigate. Torres was upset because he believed his wife, Cathy, had betrayed him and blamed him for the boy's death. Torres said he told Cathy he never would betray her and she now was using that against him.
Cathy Torres, 45, is charged with capital murder and first-degree battery. She has previously pleaded innocent to the charges. Her trial is set for next May.
Mauricio Torres said they never intended for their son to die.
"You wanted the truth," Torres said. "I'm telling you the truth."
Torres sat Wednesday at a table with his defense team as the recording played in a darkened courtroom. He looked down and never looked at the video as it played on a screen near him.
"I said it was accidental because there was no intention to kill him," Torres told Cook in the interview.
Torres said he placed a stick in his son's "bottom, but not all the way in."
He said they used that punishment so his wife would not have to spank him. The couple had tried exercise and making Isaiah stand in the corner as punishment, Torres said. The couple took sweets from their daughters and that worked as punishment for the girls, but not Isaiah, Torres said.
The family was on a camping trip in Missouri when he placed the stick in his son's rectum. Cathy Torres later became upset and pushed Isaiah down and he fell on the stick, Mauricio Torres told the detective. Torres said the stick was later burned. Torres said his son later complained about having stomach pains.
Cathy Torres was upset because Isaiah had eaten cake, Mauricio Torres said in the interview.
Torres said he first placed a stick in his son's rectum about a month before the boy died. It was the same stick used in Missouri. The couple also used the stick to spank Isaiah, Torres said.
Torres said his son's death was accidental but "that abuse caused his death."
Torres also admitted he and his wife spanked the boy and caused some of the bruises that were on Isaiah's body.
"I just hung myself," Torres said after telling Cook he was telling the truth.
Torres told Cook he was telling the truth even though he may get "the needle," a reference to the state's method of capital punishment.
Jeff Rosenzweig, one of Torres' attorneys, requested a mistrial since jurors heard references to the word "needle." Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren denied the request.
State Desk on 11/10/2016