Closing arguments set in trial of man accused of abducting, killing MoVal Girl
Closing statements are scheduled Thursday morning in the trial of a man accused of abducting and killing a 17-year-old Moreno Valley girl more than eight years ago.
Jesse Perez Torres, 42, could face the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder and a special circumstance allegation of killing in the course of kidnapping for the July 2010 death of Norma Angelica Lopez.
The defense rested its case this morning, two weeks after the prosecution concluded its presentation of evidence in the monthlong trial.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz is slated to hear motions on instructions to the jury Thursday morning before the two sides make their final arguments, which are expected to last well into the afternoon.
If Lopez is found guilty, his trial will proceed to the penalty phase. {“url”:”https://twitter.com/JakeKESQ/status/1092848251504451591″,”author_name”:”Jake Ingrassia”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/JakeKESQ”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;Torres, 42, could face the death penalty – testimony is expected to span a month, and if Torres is convicted, the case will move into the penalty phase, which could take another month.&#lt;/p&#gt;— Jake Ingrassia (@JakeKESQ) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/JakeKESQ/status/1092848251504451591?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;February 5, 2019&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
News Channel 3’s Jake Ingrassia will be in the courtroom. Follow him on his Twitter @JakeKESQ for live updates from inside the courtroom. Watch News Channel 3 starting at noon for coverage on the closing arguments.
The prosecution has argued that trace DNA fragments gleaned from Norma’s broken earring and garments proved that Torres was her killer.
No DNA matches were initially found in the state’s Combined DNA Index System, better known as CODIS. But Deputy District Attorney Michael Kersse said that changed by September 2011, when potential matches were identified out of the 1.8 million individuals whose biological identities were then in the database.
The prosecutor alleged that Torres was the best match, culminating in his detention by sheriff’s detectives, who found him at a Long Beach property owned by his mother. The defendant had been required to provide DNA samples after a domestic violence incident in early 2011.
At the outset of the trial, defense attorney John Dorr repudiated the prosecution’s contention that the DNA presented a substantive link between his client and the crime.
“There were 24 potential DNA matches,” Dorr told the jury. “You will hear nothing about the other 23, who they are, or their criminal backgrounds.”
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/JakeKESQ/status/1092856757980807168″,”author_name”:”Jake Ingrassia”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/JakeKESQ”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;”We are no longer searching for hope. We are searching for justice,” prosecutor says.&#lt;/p&#gt;— Jake Ingrassia (@JakeKESQ) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/JakeKESQ/status/1092856757980807168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;February 5, 2019&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
The attorney criticized the handling of the forensic clues collected from the victim’s earring, suggesting it had been contaminated by evidence technicians.
Riverside County’s chief pathologist, Dr. Mark Fajardo, testified that he could only speculate as to exactly how the teen was killed, though he eventually formed an opinion that it was homicidal violence.
“There are a number of ways to kill someone without leaving a mark,” the witness testified. “Strangulation or asphyxiation is possible.”
Fajardo testified that the girl’s remains were in a degraded state after being left under a tree along Theodore Street, at the eastern edge of Moreno Valley, amid sweltering heat.
She was found in the early afternoon of July 20, 2010, by a man on a tractor, doing landscaping. Photos displayed by the prosecution showed the teen head down, nude from the waist up, wearing blue jeans but no shoes.
Kersse told jurors that Torres could easily have observed Norma from his then-residence at 13173 Creekside Way, watching her whenever she left Valley View High School, where she was taking a morning biology class for the summer.
Every day that she’d left the campus for several weeks, she had been with her boyfriend. But on July 15, 2010, he was behind schedule, and she set off on her own. She headed south on Creekside, east to Quail Creek Drive, then south again on Mill Creek Road before crossing an open field toward Cottonwood Avenue, where her older sister, Sonia Lopez, and friends gathered almost daily
that summer.
Kersse played a security surveillance videotape from a house looking down on Creekside, and the recording captured the last images of Norma alive, walking the route.
The tape also showed, moments later, a green SUV cruising slowly in the direction that she was walking, shortly after 10 a.m. The vehicle re-appeared less than five minutes later, speeding away from the area. According to the prosecution, Torres owned a green Nissan Xterra at the time.
The victim’s school binder, purse, and broken earring were found about noon strewn on the ground in the field near Cottonwood. Five days later, her remains were discovered in the olive tree grove.
Torres denied any involvement in the kidnap-murder, telling detectives shortly after his arrest that he was exercising when the teen was snatched.
Torres is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside.
