New Trial In Sierra LaMar Murder Case May Be Sought, Defense Attorneys Say

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA -- The defense attorneys for the man convicted earlier this month of killing missing teen Sierra LaMar may seek a new trial for Antolin Garcia-Torres because the case's lead investigator perjured himself in another murder trial, the attorneys said outside of the Hall of Justice in San Jose on Thursday morning.

On May 9, Santa Clara County Superior Court announced that a jury had found Antolin Garcia-Torres guilty in the first-degree murder of 15-year-old Sierra LaMar five years ago. Sierra has not been seen or heard from since March 16, 2012. Garcia-Torres, now 26, was arrested on May 21, 2012, after investigators found his DNA on her jeans, which were recovered near where she went missing outside of Morgan Hill.

On May 25, Al Lopez, a defense attorney for Garcia-Torres, confirmed that a possible future trial was the reason his team had opted not to inform the jury that the lead sheriff's investigator on the case was recently found to have given false testimony in a 2009 murder trial.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Vanessa Zecher ruled Wednesday to allow the defense to present evidence of impeachment of Santa Clara County sheriff's Sgt. Herman Leon, but the defense ultimately opted not to call Leon to the stand.

The judge in that Superior Court case, Sharon Chatman, ruled May 10 to grant 26-year-old David Pilipina and 29-year-old Eddie Rivera a retrial after they were convicted last year of the stabbing murder of Kristina

Harris-Perkins and the attempted murder of two others at a light-rail station.

In that trial, Leon testified that from the time he became a detective in 2007 to the date of the trial in 2015, between 30 and 40 percent of stabbing defendants investigated by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office had worn gloves.

But a review of 104 cases from those years in the district attorney's office database showed that Pilipina's case was one of only two in which the defendant had worn gloves, according to Chatman's ruling.

Prosecutors in the case argued that the district attorney's records formed a limited sample since they did not include unsolved cases that Leon may have worked on, but declined to supplement the reports with others.

Closing arguments in the penalty phase of the trial are scheduled to be made Tuesday, May 30.

Previous coverage: Sierra LaMar Murder: Jury Convicts

Bay City News contributed to this report/Images via Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office