Nearly two years and more than 15 court appearances since his arrest, murder suspect Antolin Garcia Torres pleaded not guilty Thursday to all charges issued this week by a criminal grand jury, and waived his right to a speedy trial.
Garcia Torres, 22 of Morgan Hill, is accused of kidnapping and killing Sierra LaMar who was 15 when she disappeared from her mother’s north Morgan Hill home in March 2012.
He appeared Thursday for an arraignment at the Hall of Justice in San Jose – his first court appearance since the Santa Clara County Criminal Grand Jury indicted him with charges related to Sierra’s disappearance and murder. He was also indicted this week on charges that he attempted to assault three women in unrelated incidents in Morgan Hill in 2009.
If convicted, Garcia Torres faces life in prison or the death penalty. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has not decided if it will seek the death penalty for Garcia Torres, Deputy DA David Boyd said in court Thursday.
Garcia Torres’ attorney, Al Lopez of the County’s Alternate Defender’s Office, said Garcia Torres pleads not guilty to all of the charges, and “all enhancements and special allegations are denied.”
Lopez then notified Garcia Torres that he has a right to a speedy trial and asked him if he wanted to waive that right – to which Garcia Torres replied he did.
The hearing took place in Judge Thang Nguyen Barrett’s courtroom, which was packed with friends and family of Sierra’s, and volunteers who continue to search weekly for her remains or any sign of her whereabouts.
Previous hearings have taken place in Judge Sharon Chatman’s courtroom.
Thursday’s proceeding was the first hearing in the case since the Criminal Grand Jury indicted him.
DA Jeff Rosen decided to take the case to the 19-member body instead of waiting for a public preliminary hearing to determine if Garcia Torres would stand trial for the crimes he is accused of. Rosen’s decision to do that followed more than 15 hearings in which Garcia Torres declined to enter a plea.
Rosen added that staff from his office had been presenting their case to the grand jury, behind closed doors, for a few weeks before the indictment was announced.
Rosen said earlier this week that he hopes the criminal grand jury’s action will speed up the justice process for Sierra and her family.
Garcia Torres has been in custody at the County Jail since his arrest in May 2012. At Thursday’s hearing, Barrett ordered him to remain in custody with no bail.
Also at Thursday’s hearing, Garcia Torres filed a motion to seal the transcripts from the grand jury proceedings that led to his indictment. Judge Barrett decided to keep the transcripts sealed at least until a hearing on the matter is held. That hearing is set for April 16 at the Hall of Justice in San Jose.
Sierra disappeared while walking to her school bus stop near the intersection of Palm and Dougherty avenues – in north Morgan Hill – the morning of March 16, 2012, according to police. She was a sophomore at Sobrato High School at the time.
Her remains have not been found, but investigators think she is dead based on her lack of contact with anyone since that morning nearly two years ago.
A core group of volunteers still meet every Saturday to conduct searches of the area, looking for any sign of Sierra’s whereabouts. More than 20 of those volunteers attended Thursday’s hearing, where they recognized the grand jury indictment and Garcia Torres’ long-awaited plea as a sign that justice can finally proceed.
“There was a sigh of relief from all the searchers when the indictment came in” earlier this week, said volunteer Renee Figueira outside the courthouse Thursday. “We are going to continue searching every Saturday until we find her.”
For more information on the volunteer search efforts, go to www.findsierralamar.com.
