Page 3 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast
Results 21 to 30 of 40

Thread: Jorge Avila Torrez - Federal Death Row

  1. #21
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    Defendant in Zion double murder accuses young victim's dad

    The defense attorney for Jorge Torrez, accused of the 2005 murder of two young girls in Zion, said in court Tuesday that the state's DNA evidence is "junk," and he will argue at trial that Jerry Hobbs, who initially confessed to the murders but was later exonerated, is the likely killer.

    "Our defense in this case is that Hobbs did it," attorney Jed Stone told Judge Daniel Shanes. "He confessed to really good detectives that the state has always respected in the past. And the DNA is junk."

    Torrez, a former Zion resident, is charged with the Mother's Day 2005 slaying of 8-year-old Laura Hobbs, the daughter of Jerry Hobbs, and 9-year-old Krystal Tobias in Beulah Park in Zion.

    The girls were stabbed numerous times in what authorities described as a savage attack.

    Hobbs had confessed during an interrogation shortly after the bodies were found and was held in jail on murder charges for five years before authorities said DNA evidence pointed to another man, whom they later alleged was Torrez.

    The case against Hobbs was among several that fell apart in Lake County after forensic evidence pointed away from those who had been charged and, in some cases, convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms.

    Hobbs was freed after five years in jail and won a multimillion-dollar settlement after being cleared in Lake County. He since has been convicted and imprisoned on drug charges in Oklahoma. Hobbs, 45, pleaded guilty to methamphetamine possession, among other charges, and was sentenced earlier this year to 15 years in prison, according to court records.

    On Tuesday, Stone said he has requested reports on specific DNA evidence in the case and will turn the information over to his DNA expert for further examination.

    Shanes set a Nov. 6 hearing to review the status of pretrial motions. A trial date has not yet been scheduled.

    Although Torrez is being held in Lake County Jail, his presence at Tuesday's hearing was waived after attorneys were told it could take up to an hour to bring him to the courtroom. Stone said he would fill his client in on the hearing later in the day.

    With the trial of Torrez expected to take place next year, Assistant State's Attorney Ari Fisz said he had no comment yet as to whether the state would seek to bar testimony at trial regarding Hobbs' confession.

    Stone previously said there is no reason to rush the trial.

    "He already has five life sentences and a federal death penalty hanging over his head," Stone said of Torrez. The life sentence was for Torrez's conviction in the 2009 strangulation murder of Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Amanda Snell, 20, who lived in the same barracks as Torrez at the Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Va.

    The five life sentences were for a series of attacks on women that also occurred after the Zion girls were killed.

    Torrez, a former Marine, has also been convicted of abducting three young women in Arlington, Va., in February 2010, one of whom he raped, sodomized, strangled and left for dead. He was sentenced to five life sentences in the series and is sentenced to death at the federal level for Snell's murder.

    Prosecutors, including State's Attorney Michael Nerheim, have said the decision to try Torrez for the Lake County murders was necessary because there is always a chance previous convictions could be overturned and because it will help provide closure for the families of the girls.

    According to investigators, DNA found at the girls' murder scene matches Torrez, a friend of Krystal Tobias' brother who lived in the same Zion neighborhood as the victim in 2005. He later left the area to enter the Marines, which took him to Virginia.

    http://my.chicagotribune.com/#sectio.../p2p-84765904/

  2. #22
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    4,795
    Attorney tries to block evidence in Avila-Torrez trial

    The attorney for a former U.S. Marine accused of committing one of Lake County's most notorious murders is trying to block key evidence from being admitted at trial.

    Jed Stone, attorney for Jorge Avila-Torrez, filed a motion in court Thursday asking that Lake County Judge Daniel Shanes not allow DNA evidence taken after the murders of 8-year-old Laura Hobbs and 9-year-old Krystal Tobias. Stone also asked Shanes to prohibit use of jailhouse audio recordings that prosecutors claim show Avila-Torrez admitting he committed the murders.

    Avila-Torrez did not appear in court Thursday. His presence was waived by attorneys.

    Assistant State's Attorney Ari Fisz said after court he will review and answer the motions when both sides return to court Sept 14.

    Stone said the DNA evidence shows there is "no statistical probability" proving Torrez, 28, formerly of Zion, was the only person who could have killed Tobias and Hobbs in 2005. In the motion, he said, the DNA sample prosecutors are using to put Torrez at the crime scene is substandard and weak.

    "To use DNA to say this man is guilty, I don't think they (prosecutors) have it," Stone said after the hearing.

    http://www.dailyherald.com/article/2...ews/160909824/
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  3. #23
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    On May 9, 2017, oral argument will be heard in Torrez's direct appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

    http://pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/calend...y092017ric.pdf

  4. #24
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    On August 28, 2017, Torrez's conviction and death sentence were AFFIRMED on direct appeal by the Fourth Circuit. The panel was made up of Judges Thacker (Obama), Diaz (Obama) and Floyd (Obama). Judge Floyd affirmed the conviction but dissented as to the death sentence.

    http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions...shed/141.P.pdf

  5. #25
    Administrator Moh's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    13,014
    On September 25, 2017, the Fourth Circuit DENIED Torrez's petition for en banc rehearing.

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketP...20Opinions.pdf

  6. #26
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    4,795
    Wait so this guy is through all the courts except SCOTUS in less than 4 years? Is that a record?

  7. #27
    Senior Member CnCP Addict one_two_bomb's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    Detroit MI
    Posts
    965
    I'm guessing maybe because federal inmates don't have any state appeals?

  8. #28
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    4,795
    Even without his state appeals this is pretty fast. Usually the Circuit Courts will sit on cases for years.

  9. #29
    Senior Member Frequent Poster Ted's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Space
    Posts
    483
    Do y’all reckon he’ll be up for a date any time soon, assuming Trump obliges?

  10. #30
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    4,795
    There's at least a dozen of guys that have been done their appeals on the Fed DR and no action has been taken for any of them since Bush's first term. I have no idea what's going on with the Fed but nobody is getting a date anytime soon at the rate its going.

Page 3 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •