Court orders unsealing of documents in Sierra LaMar case

A Santa Clara County Superior Court judge ruled that the grand jury transcript in the indictment of Antolin Garcia Torres shall be unsealed at a June 27 hearing at the Hall of Justice in San Jose. 

The decision, if upheld following a possible appeal, will for the first time allow the disclosure of the details of at least some of the evidence that investigators say links Garcia Torres, 22 of Morgan Hill, to the kidnapping and murder of Sierra LaMar. 

The judge’s ruling was stayed until July 11 in order to give Garcia Torres and his defense team a chance to appeal and keep the records sealed, according to Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney David Boyd. 

Garcia Torres has been held without bail Santa Clara County Jail for more than two years awaiting trial on charges that he kidnapped and murdered Sierra, who disappeared from her north Morgan Hill home when she was 15 years old March 16, 2012. 

The criminal grand jury indicted Garcia Torres on the charges in February, and he pleaded not guilty in a superior court hearing a few days later. In May, the D.A.’s office announced prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the suspect. 

The motion to unseal the nearly 2,000-page transcript was filed by the San Joe Mercury News shortly after the grand jury indicted Garcia Torres. The newspaper enlisted retired political science professor Edward J. Bronson of San Jose State University to conduct an analysis of past publicity of the case since the day Sierra disappeared. 

The purpose of this analysis was to demonstrate that releasing information from the grand jury files would not negatively impact the defendant’s right to a fair trial, as Garcia Torres’ attorneys have argued. 

A previous court ruling in the case has upheld the defendant’s desire to keep the grand jury files secret until now. 

Boyd declined to comment further on the June 27 ruling, and he did not argue against or in support of unsealing the grand jury documents. 

Garcia Torres’ attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether or not they plan to appeal the decision. 

So far, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s investigators have released little information about the evidence they have which allegedly connects Garcia Torres to Sierra and her disappearance. Investigators have said in the initial days of the search, they found Sierra’s cell phone and bag containing some of her belongings in different areas on the side of the roads near her home. 

Sheriff Laurie Smith also told reporters after Garcia Torres’ arrest that they found the suspect’s DNA on Sierra’s belongings, and Sierra’s DNA in Garcia Torres’ red Volkswagen. Investigators have not specified what kind of DNA they found. 

Authorities think Sierra, a sophomore at Sobrato High School at the time, disappeared while walking to her school bus stop near the intersection of Palm and Dougherty avenues March 16, 2012. Although neither her remains nor any evidence of her whereabouts have been located, investigators think she is dead. 

Volunteers continue to search for Sierra every Saturday morning. The volunteer searchers meet at 9 a.m. Saturdays at the former site of Central High School, at 17960 Monterey Road.