BENTONVILLE -- Mauricio Torres showed no emotion Tuesday as he was sentenced to death by lethal injection for killing his son.
Torres, 45, of Bella Vista stood at the defense table with his three attorneys as the jury entered the courtroom for sentencing Tuesday. Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren then read the sentences to a silent courtroom.
The jury -- seven women and five men -- recommended a death sentence for capital murder and 20 years in state prison and a $10,000 fine for the battery conviction after deliberating for two hours and 20 minutes. The trial lasted five days.
Torres was stoic throughout the trial and reacted only once -- shaking his head during testimony of a 21-year-old woman who said he raped her when she was a child. Torres did not testify.
Karren followed the jury's recommendation and sentenced Torres to die by lethal injection. He set the execution for Nov. 15, 2017. Torres will receive an automatic appeal and the date will be set aside, but Karren is required by law to set an execution date.
Torres declined to make any statements in court after the sentences were announced.
Benton County sheriff's deputies then took Torres from the courtroom.
A jury on Monday found Torres guilty of capital murder and first-degree battery in the death of 6-year-old Maurice Isaiah Torres, who died March 30, 2015, at a Bella Vista hospital. A medical examiner testified that the boy's death was caused by a bacterial infection as a result of being sodomized with a stick. The medical examiner also testified that chronic child abuse contributed to the child's death.
Defense Tactics
The defense team for Mauricio Torres submitted a list of mitigating circumstances for reasons not to impose the death sentence in his case.
Some of the factors included:
• Torres was under the domination of another person.
• The murder was committed by another person and Torres acted as an accomplice.
• Torres had no previous criminal history.
• Torres was abandoned by his mother and grew up without her.
• Torres was an occupational therapist assistant who helped others overcome their injuries.
• Torres did not intend to kill his son.
• Torres attempted to revive his son and is remorseful about the death.
• Torres suffered health problems from being obese.
Source: Staff report
"I'm gratified that the jury gave this crime the punishment that it deserves," said Nathan Smith, Benton County's prosecuting attorney. "I think the death penalty was the appropriate punishment in this case. If anyone on earth deserves the death penalty, it's Mauricio Torres."
Smith described Torres as a serial child abuser who committed "vile and despicable acts" on Isaiah and other children.
"I think justice was served," said Bella Vista police Capt. Tim Cook, the lead detective on the case.
Kim Anderson of Springdale was an alternate juror for the trial. Anderson sat through the trial with the other jurors but did not vote or take part in any of the deliberations.
She described the experience in starkly contrasting terms. "It was quite touching, but also very traumatic," she said Tuesday.
Anderson said she was impressed with the way the legal system operated in the case. She said the law, as it was presented to the jury, left no choice in a verdict. She quoted a Latin phrase -- res ipsa loquitur, meaning, "the thing speaks for itself "-- to describe the case presented to the jury.
"The law took the emotion out of the process," she said. "I saw a system work as it was intended to. I personally think it was a very tough decision but one that would have to be made. If we were to follow the law, it was the only decision that could be made. It was tough but right."
At trial, prosecutors showed photographs of Isaiah's body. Bruises, some old and some fresh, covered much of his body in the photographs.
The jury listened to an interview in which Mauricio Torres confessed to Cook that he put a stick in Isaiah's rectum as punishment. Torres told Cook that his wife, Cathy, became angry and shoved the boy down on the stick.
Cathy Torres is charged with capital murder and first-degree battery. Her trial is scheduled for May.
Isaiah's 9-year-old sister testified that she saw her father put the stick in her brother's rectum during a Missouri camping trip. She also described other instances in which their father abused Isaiah.
During the sentencing phase, prosecutors presented five witnesses who testified that Torres either physically or sexually abused them as children.
Mauricio Torres' father and uncle testified Tuesday on his behalf.
Smith told the jury in closing arguments that a death sentence was a just punishment. "Isaiah received a sentence from his father," Smith said. "I'm asking you to give a just sentence to his father."
Jeff Rosenzweig, one of Torres' attorneys, told jury members in closing arguments that they had to search their minds and souls to decide whether to impose a death sentence. He urged jurors not to let emotions guide their decision and to sentence Torres to life imprisonment.
Metro on 11/16/2016