Crime & Safety

Law Professor Testifies Regarding Moving Trial In Sierra LaMar Case

Defense attorneys want trial for man accused of kidnapping and killing the teen in 2012 moved outside Santa Clara County. [Breaking]

Bay City News, News Partner
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SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA – A professor emeritus testified Wednesday in a hearing on a motion in Santa Clara County Superior Court that if granted, would move the location of an upcoming trial for a man facing charges associated with the 2012 disappearance of 15-year-old Sierra LaMar.

Attorneys representing the defendant, 25-year-old Antolin Garcia-Torres, have filed a change of venue motion as they're looking to move his trial outside Santa Clara County.

Garcia-Torres has been charged with the kidnapping and murder of Sierra, who was last seen leaving her unincorporated Morgan Hill home on March 16, 2012 and never made it to her bus stop.

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California State University, Chico Professor Emeritus Edward Bronson took the witness stand where he was questioned by defense attorney Brian Matthews before Superior Court Judge Vanessa Zecher at the Hall of
Justice in San Jose Wednesday.

The professor has taught courses in constitutional law and criminal procedures. He has a doctorate in law from Denver University a doctorate in political science from the University of Colorado.

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Bronson, 86, has testified in 117 cases in which he favored a change of venue, including the case against Jared Loughner for shooting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others in Tucson, Arizona in 2011, but the
defendant later pleaded guilty.

Bronson also made the same recommendation more recently in the trial of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, but the hearing stayed in Suffolk County.

In Garcia-Torres' case, Bronson said he was in favor of moving the hearing outside the county based on his analysis of the alleged crime, news reports and a survey he conducted among 300 residents.

The professor said he understood the "prejudicial effect" of the media before a trial. He analyzed coverage of the case through news articles, a majority from The Mercury News and some by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Many stories portrayed Sierra in a positive light and "demonized" the defendant, Bronson said.

He based his examination on the nature and extent of the publicity and the crime, the statuses of the victim and defendant and the characteristics of the community.

The case against Garcia-Torres is widely known through massive, organized searches for Sierra's body that brought in high-profile people such as KlaasKids Foundation founder Marc Klaas, whose own daughter was kidnapped in Petaluma and killed in 1993.

Sierra's body hasn't been found, which adds prejudice against Garcia-Torres, according to Bronson.

There were 300 residents who participated in the professor's survey that was designed to see if Garcia-Torres would receive a fair trial in Santa Clara County.

About 85 percent of people still remember the case after more than four years and was a part of the "collective memory" of the county, Bronson said.

The size of the county doesn't take away from the change of venue motion and no one element will decide whether the trial will stay or be moved elsewhere, according to Bronson.

The hearing will continue Thursday afternoon at the Hall of Justice.

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--Bay City News/File images via SAnta Clara Co. SO

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