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An Arkansas father twice found guilty of raping and killing his
six-year-old son will face a third trial in the case, after his most
recent case ended in a mistrial over a courtroom clash and the first
conviction was overturned.

Mauricio Torres, 50, was initially convicted of capital murder and
battery in November 2016 in the death of Isiah Torres, but the
Arkansas Supreme Court threw out that ruling in 2019, saying
authorities could not use rape as a justification for the murder
conviction.

Torres was convicted again, but a Benton County circuit judge
declared a mistrial during the sentencing phase in March 2020 after
Torres' stepson jumped from the witness box and lunged at him.

The state attorney general's office appealed, saying the 2020 guilty
verdict should stand but that a third jury could decide Torres'
punishment. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

On Thursday, the Arkansas Supreme Court rejected that appeal and
ordered a new trial, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.

Attorney General Leslie Rutledge called the latest ruling
heartbreaking.

'Mauricio Torres has been convicted twice of the brutal murder of
his son, but this decision means Isaiah's loved ones and the entire
community will have to endure a third devastating trial,' she said.
'I will do everything in my power to bring justice for Isaiah.'

Veda Berger, senior assistant attorney general, told the Supreme
Court that Judge Brad Karren made a mistake granting a mistrial in
the guilty phase for an incident that happened during sentencing.

Justice Shawn Womack, the only dissenting justice, agreed, stating
what happened during the sentencing phase had no bearing on the
phase of Torres' trial that decided his guilt.

But the remaining six high court justices found Karren didn't commit
an error and didn't exceed his jurisdiction

Torres' stepson, Quinton Martin, 24, was testifying in March 2020
about his own physical abuse at the hands of his father when he
jumped from the witness stand, leaped over a court reporter and made
a dash toward Torres and his lawyers, who flipped over the defense
table to block his path.

Following the courtroom outburst, Torres' defense lawyer Jeff
Rosenzweig asked the presiding judge to declare a mistrial, arguing
that what the jurors saw 'cannot be unseen.'

After clearing the courtroom and reviewing surveillance video of the
incident and relevant case law, Judge Karren granted the motion for
a complete mistrial, citing the 'shock on the jurors' faces' when
Martin lunged at his stepfather.

Torres' 2016 conviction and death sentence were overturned by the
Arkansas Supreme Court, which ruled 4-3 in April 2019 that Arkansas
authorities couldn't use rape as a justification for the murder
conviction because the assault occurred in Missouri. Torres' son
died at an Arkansas hospital a day after the assault.

Torres' attorneys have said his actions, which included inserting a
stick into his son's rectum, were intended as punishment for eating
a piece of cake without permission during a camping trip to
Missouri, and the father didn't know they could kill the boy.

A medical examiner testified that the boy's death was caused by a
bacterial infection resulting from sodomy and chronic child abuse.

Torres was being held without bail in the Benton County jail,
pending a March 12 status hearing. Karren issued a gag order
prohibiting attorneys from commenting on the case.

Torres' wife, Cathy, pleaded guilty in 2017 to capital murder for
the child's death and was sentenced to life without parole.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9255301/Arkansas-man- twice-convicted-killing-son-faces-3rd-trial.html

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