Arkansas man convicted in 6-year-old son's death in retrial
Columbia Basin Herald | UPDATED 4 years, 10 months AGO
BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) — A northwest Arkansas man accused of killing his 6-year-old son by assaulting the child with a stick was found guilty of capital murder and battery during a retrial.
A Benton County jury returned the verdict Wednesday against Mauricio Torres, 50, of Bella Vista, in the 2015 death of Isaiah Torres. The sentencing phase is set to begin Thursday. He could be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole.
Mauricio Torres' 2016 conviction and death sentence were overturned by a divided Arkansas Supreme Court, which ruled 4-3 last April that Arkansas authorities couldn't use rape as a justification for the murder conviction because the assault occurred in Missouri.
Investigators say Torres used a stick to sexually assault his son while the family was camping in Missouri. The boy died at an Arkansas hospital a day after the assault.
Torres' attorneys have said his actions were intended as punishment 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' wife, Cathy, pleaded guilty in 2017 to capital murder for the child's death and was sentenced to life without parole.