ORLANDO, Fla. (Court TV) — As Sarah Boone awaits sentencing for murder, her attorney is fighting to get her a new trial by arguing the judge erred in his rulings and prosecutorial misconduct.
Sarah Boone describes Jorge Torres Jr.’s hand coming out of the suitcase during her trial at the Orange County Courthouse in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (POOL/Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel)
A jury convicted Boone of second-degree murder for the death of her boyfriend, Jorge Torres Jr., who was found zipped up in a suitcase in the couple’s apartment after a night of drinking. Boone testified at her trial that she had acted in self-defense and that she suffers from battered spouse syndrome, while prosecutors emphasized that she had left the victim to suffocate after additionally beating the suitcase with a baseball bat.
At trial, Boone was represented by a robust defense team led by James Owens. While Torres died in Feb. 2020, Boone’s case did not go to trial for four years, in part due to delays caused by a constantly changing defense team. Eight attorneys represented Boone before Judge Michael Kraynick ruled that she had forfeited her right to an attorney and had to represent herself. In the motion for a new trial, Owens argued that the ruling violated Boone’s Sixth Amendment right to representation. Owens wrote that Boone’s behavior did not rise to the level of misconduct required to sustain the ruling and that Judge Kraynick failed to warn her that repeated “misbehavior” would result in losing her right to an attorney.
READ MORE | Attorneys seeking payment describe ‘constant battle’ with Sarah Boone
Owens noted in the motion that despite his filing a notice of appearance just 45 days before the trial was scheduled to begin, Judge Kraynick refused to grant any continuances.
“Despite his best attempts to prepare for trial, it was impossible to adequately prepare for unforeseen issues arising during trial: A prime example of this would be reviewing hundreds of pages of texts from Ms. Boone’s seized cell phone, viewing all records of prior contact of Ms. Boone and the alleged victim with law enforcement, including admissible hearsay by the alleged victim to law enforcement regarding Ms. Boone being the aggressor at times. Counsel, for all purposes, closed his law practice down to prepare for the trial but due to the short time frame, even with the assistance of other attorneys, was simply logistically unable to be as prepared for trial as he would have liked to be, and as Ms. Boone was entitled to.”
At the time of his ruling, Judge Kraynick said that Boone had only “herself to blame” for the situation, noting that Owens was well aware of the Court’s deadlines before signing on as an attorney.
Owens’ motion also alleged prosecutorial misconduct, not only citing the State’s failure to alert the defense that their rebuttal expert, Dr. Tonia Werner, had a new opinion but also arguing that prosecutor William Jay delivered a “second closing argument” instead of a rebuttal argument.
Owens also said that Judge Kraynick’s refusal to grant a mistrial based on an “emotional outburst” from the Torres family during closing arguments constituted judicial error because no curative instruction was given to the jury.
Boone faces a minimum of 22.5 years in prison when she is sentenced on Dec. 2.
