{"id":7818,"date":"2026-08-27T04:37:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T04:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7818"},"modified":"2026-08-27T04:37:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T04:37:51","slug":"sierra-lamar-retrial-charging-doc-alleges-new-attempted-kidnapping-as-jury-selection-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7818","title":{"rendered":"Sierra LaMar retrial: Charging doc alleges new attempted kidnapping as jury selection begins"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SAN JOSE \u2014 Jury selection is underway for the second murder trial for Antolin Garcia Torres in the notorious 2012 disappearance and presumed death of Sierra LaMar, and a newly unsealed court filing reveals that prosecutors are alleging publicly for the first time that he tried to kidnap a woman in San Jose a week after Sierra vanished in unincorporated Morgan Hill.<\/p>\n

Read more Yayoi Kusama, who splashed polka dots across art world, dies at 97 in Tokyo<\/a><\/p>\n

The statement of facts, or probable cause affidavit, for the second set of charges alleging murder and three attempted kidnappings \u2014 which will be tried separately in adherence with the appellate court order that overturned Garcia Torres\u2019 original 2017 murder conviction \u2014 introduces a March 23, 2012 incident in which he is accused of using a stun gun in an attempt to kidnap a woman in Willow Glen.<\/p>\n

Garcia Torres\u2019 attorneys with the Santa Clara County Alternate Defender\u2019s Office opposed the public filing of the affidavit, but Superior Court Judge Brian Buckelew ordered Monday that the document be made public. For the most part, the filing by the county District Attorney\u2019s Office retraces much of original case against the defendant, centered on his DNA being found on Sierra\u2019s pants found abandoned in a field near where she was last seen, and her DNA being found in his car, including a strand of her hair intertwined with a piece of rope in the trunk.<\/p>\n

But the most noteworthy addition is the San Jose attempted kidnapping allegation. Garcia Torres is being prosecuted for three attempted kidnappings of women in Safeway parking lots in March 2009, with one of the charges including an allegation he used a stun gun on a victim.<\/p>\n

The 6th District Court of Appeal overturned Garcia Torres\u2019 original convictions, which led to him being imprisoned to a term of life without parole, after finding that consolidating the three attempted kidnapping charges into his murder trial was a \u201cprejudicial error\u201d that allowed jurors to convict him based on an aggregate threat he posed rather than the merits of each individual charge. The original prosecutor argued to jurors that the attempted kidnappings were a \u201ctraining ground\u201d for his alleged abduction of Sierra, a claim the appellate court criticized since Sierra\u2019s body has never been found and thus it is impossible to know how and why she died.<\/p>\n

In its February ruling, the higher court prohibited prosecutors from introducing the 2009 kidnapping attempts as evidence for his second murder trial. Those three attempted kidnappings will be tried after the murder case; prosecutors in their new affidavit are seeking to tell a jury about a fourth attempt.<\/p>\n

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But they are not charging Garcia Torres with the newly revealed attempted kidnapping allegation, presumably because the statute of limitation for the crime is six years, meaning the chance to prosecute expired in 2018. They are instead seeking to bring up the new allegation under state evidence code 1108, which if granted by a judge allows uncharged sexual offense claims to be introduced at trial in order to portray a pattern of misconduct.<\/p>\n

According to the unsealed affidavit, a 16-year-old girl was walking home near Curtner and Coastland avenues in San Jose\u2019s Willow Glen neighborhood when, according to her police account, a man bear-hugged her from behind, applied a stun gun near her right ear and took her to the ground as she yelled for help. As the assailant dragged her toward a car, she fought back and broke free; he relented, got into his car, and sped away.<\/p>\n

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Two months later, the girl called San Jose police after seeing news coverage of Garcia Torres\u2019 arrest in Sierra\u2019s disappearance and reportedly recognized him as her attacker, as well as his distinct faded red Volkswagen Jetta with a black hood. Prosecutors state that at the time of this reported attack, Garcia Torres was working in the area for a San Jose-based arborist firm.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear why the district attorney\u2019s office did not charge Garcia Torres with the attempted kidnapping after it was reported or at any point before the statute of limitations expired, and why it chose to raise it only as potential evidence in the coming retrial.<\/p>\n

Jury selection, which began Wednesday, is currently scheduled to last for a week, with as many as 350 prospective jurors potentially going before the attorneys and court. Judge Buckelew has set the first week of October as his target to have a jury empaneled and begin opening statements, with broader sights on concluding the trial by Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

Read more SF Giants meltdown in ninth, blow six-run lead and fail to complete season\u2019s first three-game sweep<\/a><\/p>\n

This is a developing report. Check back for updates.<\/em><\/p>\n

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In disputed recently unsealed filing, prosecutors allege without charges that Antolin Garcia Torres used a stun gun in an attempt to abduct a woman in San Jose a week after Sierra’s 2012 disappearance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSierra LaMar retrial: Charging doc alleges new attempted kidnapping as jury selection begins - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7818\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sierra LaMar retrial: Charging doc alleges new attempted kidnapping as jury selection begins - 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