. >> the prosecution is close to wrapping up its closing arguments in the trial of antonin garcia torres killing sierra lamar, five years ago near morgan hill. >> as details of the case are laid out one last time, emotions are running very high. >> abc7 news reporter david lui has been at the courthouse all day. >> reporter: in a matter of days, a jury at this courthouse will decide whether or not antonin garcia torres is guilty or not of killing sierra lamar, even though sierra disappeared five years ago, jurors were reaching for tissues as they heard the details of 24 troubling case. this is the last time for the prosecutor and the defense attorneys to convince the jury of antonin garcia torres' innocence or guilt. the evidence is based on circumstance because sierra lamar's body has not been found. sierra's father steve maintained a daily presence in court, her mother marlene took the witness stand early in the trial. in court they sat just a few

, once again pitting the prosecution against the defense, the only issue is whether or not antonin garcia torreset the death pejity for the murder of 18-year-old sierra lamar. witness impact statements telling the jurors how sierra's death has himpacted the them. they will allow several videos and photos of her. there will be a mental evaluation of garcia. exposure to mercury may also be argued. they may also show a 21-minute video of garcia torres at a family birthday party. the family have been appealing to the jury's sympathy. >> at the same time they have said that sierra is out there and could still be alive, now the jury rejected that, and now garcia knows where lamar is. >> reporter: the opposing size filed duelling motions. the judge will have to decide on those matters in order to allow the jury to decide whether antonin garcia torres gets life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. >> and as we enter this penalty phase, you can get caught up on the background of the sierra lamar case. >>> newly elected state senator scott wiener is among the authors of a bill

, once again pitting the prosecution against the defense, the only issue is whether or not antonin garcia torresill get the death pejity for the murder of 18-year-old sierra lamar. witness impact statements telling the jurors how sierra's death has himpacted the them. they will allow several videos and photos of there will be a mental evaluation of garcia. exposure to mercury may also be argued. they may also show a 21-minute video of garcia torres at a family birthday party. the family have been appealing to the jury's sympathy. >> at the same time they have said that sierra is out there and could still be alive, now the jury rejected that, and now garcia knows where lamar is. >> reporter: the opposing size filed duelling motions. the judge will have to decide on those matters in order to allow the jury to decide whether antonin garcia torres gets life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. >> and as we enter this penalty phase, you can get caught up on the background of the sierra lamar case. >>> newly elected state senator scott wiener is among the authors of a bill

. >> the prosecution is close to wrapping up its closing arguments in the trial of antonin garcia torres of killing sierra lamar, five years ago near morgan hill. >> as details of the case are laid out one last time, emotions are running very high. >> abc7 news reporter david lui has been at the courthouse all day. >> reporter: in a matter of days, a jury at this courthouse will decide whether or not antonin garcia torres is guilty or not of killing sierra lamar, even though sierra disappeared five years ago, jurors were reaching for tissues as they heard the details of 24 troubling case. this is the last time for the prosecutor and the defense attorneys to convince the jury of antonin garcia torres' innocence or guilt. the evidence is based on circumstance because sierra lamar's body has not been found. sierra's father steve maintained a daily presence in court, her mother marlene took the witness stand early in the trial. in court they sat just a few feet from the man accused of killing sierra separated by just a few feet. >> they know this is the highest stakes case we have in our soc

antonin garcia torres was guilty of murdering sierra lamar and guilty of her kidnapping. sierra's parents broke their silence with the trial over. >> we're grateful to the jurors coming up with the right decision, and it gives us peace as a family knowing that this is not going to happen to another child. and that they can't get away with something like this. >> justice was served here today, justice for sierra. and so that gives us some form of relief. >> the ca >>. >> reporter: the case is not over, the case that found torres guilty will hear the penalty phase before deciding to give him the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. prosecutor david boyd was reluctant to say what he thinks convicted torres. >> in 13 months, it's difficult to say what is most compelling. >> there was no murder weapon, no crime scene and no body. however dna evidence played a key role. in san jose, david lui, abc7 news. >> antonin garcia torres was also found guilty of kidnapping three women from parking lots three years before sierra disappeared. >> evidence of p

antonin garcia torres was guilty of murdering sierra lamar and guilty of her kidnapping. sierra's parents broke their silence with the trial over. >> we're grateful to the jurors coming up with the right decision, and it gives us peace as a family knowing that this is not going to happen to another child. and that they can't get away with something like this. >> justice was served here today, justice for sierra. and so that gives us some form of relief. >> the ca >>. >> reporter: the case is not over, the case that found torres guilty will hear the penalty phase before deciding to give him the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. prosecutor david boyd was reluctant to say what he thinks convicted torres. >> in 13 months, it's difficult to say what is most compelling. >> there was no murder weapon, no crime scene and no body. however dna evidence played a key role. in san jose, david lui, abc7 news. >> antonin garcia torres was also found guilty of kidnapping three women from parking lots three years before sierra disappeared. >> evidence of p

the prosecution is trying to convince jurors that antonin garcia torres deserves the death sentence. the defense is trying to paint a different picture in an attempt to convince the jurors to have mercy. >> what the prosecution is going to stress in the next several days is the impact of sierra's kidnapping and murder and the uncertainty of what happened to her and how that weighs on her family and friends. >> reporter: a deputy also testified that last month he saw garcia torres throw a suspicious item into a trash can at the courthouse, he says it was a plastic bag twisted and knotted and appeared to look like a strangulation device. many more character witnesses are expected to take the stand this week as each side builds its case for his punishment. >> and you can get caught up on the background of the sierra lamar case on our website abc7news.com. and be the first when garcia torres's sentence is announced by downloading our abcnews app. >>> a rare form of botulism is being investigated in sacramento. health officials are trying to determine the source of this bacteria. they thi

. >> reporter: in a matter of days, a jury at this courthouse will decide whether or not antonin garcia torres is guilty or not of killing sierra lamar, even though sierra disappeared five years ago, jurors were reaching for tissues as they heard the details of 24 troubling case. this is the last time for the prosecutor and the defense attorneys to convince the jury of antonin garcia torres' innocence or guilt. the evidence is based on circumstance because sierra lamar's body has not been found. sierra's father steve maintained a daily presence in court, her mother marlene took the witness stand early in the trial. in court they sat just a few feet from the man accused of killing sierra separated by just a few feet. >> they know this is the highest stakes case we have in our society, it's a big burden on this skrur. >> reporter: the jury of six women and six men ask given deliberations on friday. >> ultimately everybody would like to have the same result and that is justice for sierra and also the return of sierra to her loving family. >> reporter: the jury must decide if garcia torres is guil

the prosecution is trying to convince jurors that antonin garcia torres deserves the death sentence.efense is trying to paint a different picture in an attempt to convince the jurors to have mercy. >> what the prosecution is going to stress in the next several days is the impact of sierra's kidnapping and murder and the uncertainty of what happened to her and how that weighs on her family and friends. >> reporter: a deputy also testified that last month he saw garcia torres throw a suspicious item into a trash can at the courthouse, he says it was a plastic bag twisted and knotted and appeared to look like a strangulation device. many more character witnesses are expected to take the stand this week as each side builds its case for his punishment. >> and you can get caught up on the background of the sierra lamar case on our website abc7news.com. and be the first when garcia torres's sentence is announced by downloading our abcnews app. >>> a rare form of botulism is being investigated in sacramento. health officials are trying to determine the source of this bacteria. they think it'

they're using information from the trial of lamar's convicted killer, antonin garcia torres. everal search volunteers attended the trial earlier this month. lamar went missing in march of 2012. >>> the penalty phase for sierra lamar's convicted killer continues on monday. jurors who found antonin garcia torres guilty earlier this month will determine if he gets the death penalty or life in prison without patrol. yesterday lamar's parents gave emotional testimony about their loss. >>> a large-scale drug bust in the central valley netted nearly $7 million in synthetic heroin. federal, state, and local agents seized more than four pounds of heroin laced with ketmine and fentanyl on tuesday. they say it's the first time they've seen fept-nil being tracked to fresno county. sheriff margaret mim says it's a synthetic open wroid that's so dangerous investigators wore hazmat suits to handle it. >> they don't touch it and they don't breathe it in because if they do it could be fate'll. >> reporter: officers arrested wardo zavala from the los angeles area after narcotics agents say they

antonin garcia torres found guilty of capital murder in the case of sierra lamarr. he is now eligible for the death penalty. >> it's like reliving the nightmare going through the trial but much worse with the gory details. >> her mother skipped over much of the proceedings but came to hear the verdict today. >> i'm surviving because of faith. >> sierra disappeared on her way to school in morgan hill in 2012. garcia-torres was arrested two months later. the forensic evidence, his closing fibers in her car, her hair on a rope in his trunk, and his dna on her jeans. the challenge for the prosecution, her body has never been found. >> it's very difficult to say what is most telling. >> he was also found guilty of trying to kidnap three women in a safeway parking lot in 2009. most of his family members left the courtroom without speaking to reporters but i did catch up with one well on facebook live and she still believes he is innocent. >> it's very sad. very unfortunate situation. >> after a three-month trial, the jury of six men and six women deliberated for less than

here in the same courtroom where antonin garcia torres was convicted of killing sierra lamar. they will bring in forensic psychology el psychologists to make their case to spare his life. the prosecution wants their own psychologists to see if he has any impairment from his childhood. the psychologists will offer signtive eck data and insight, but will not advocate for a certain penalty. torres's childhood will come up in the sentencing case, as far as the well-documented case of a father convicted of child molestation, but today, they say his troubled past is no excuse for what he did to 15-year-old sierra. >> everybody has a rough childhood. a lot of people were poor. a lot of people have gone through a lot of things in their life that others don't even know about. but we're all still walkin' around, law-abiding citizens and not committing crimes. >> reporter: during the sentencing phase, legal experts say sierra's parents will be the primary witnesses for the prosecution. they'll be asked to talk about what it's like losing a child and not knowing where it is. where she is,

reporting) estacio - "do you have any comment - hudled together - family members - including antonin garcia- torrests' left the crowded courthouse steps shortly after the guilty verdict was delivered. estacio - "do you think he will tell where the body is now?" seemingly distraught - garcia torres mother wiped away a tear, but when asked repeatedly to say something about her son, she stayed silent as she and others were escorted by sheriff's deputies to a waiting car.estacio - " do you believe he is guilty." another person said to be relative did speak up - "it is very sad for both of the families, very unfortunate situation." "do you think he is guilty?" no." as for garcia-torres defense team - who argued through the 3 month long trial that sierra was not murdered or missing, but that she was simply a runaway - only this - estacio - "are you going to say anything? no, not today." in san jose, te ( pam ) reaction to this verdict came quickly... especially online... with numerous posts coming in immediately after it was read. ( steve ) this story lit up our website and countless others, becoming the

. >> have you ever thought about being an >>> the jury in the trial of antonin garcia torres is expectedn or friday. >> in a prosecution and the defense finished closing arguments today, abc7 reporter has been covering the trial for the past three months. >> reporter: prosecutor david boyd wrapped up his closing arguments act in summary, boyd said, quote, do not reward the defendant for his cunning and success in silencing sierra lamar. and then it was the defense's turn, he accused investigators of not following up on a lead of a car who was found abandoned. >> now if she is dead, it's possible that garcia torres didn't kill her. >> reporter: the defense is planting seeds of doubt in the jury's mind because it's task is to find torres guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. quote, where's the evidence she's deceased? she's missing and nothing else. the defense also found itself chuckling an laughing as he poked holes in the evidence against garcia torres. >> i think the prosecution is trying to be folks si with this and to develop a rapport but the prosecution, but it's the defense theory of

. >>> the jury in the trial of antonin garcia torres is expected to start this afternoon or friday. >> in a prosecution and the defense finished closing arguments today, abc7 reporter has been covering the trial for the past three months. >> reporter: prosecutor david boyd wrapped up his closing arguments act tuesdayiorres of in summary, boyd said, quote, do not reward the defendant for his cunning and success in silencing sierra lamar. and then it was the defense's turn, he accused investigators of not following up on a lead of a car who was found abandoned. >> now if she is dead, it's possible that garcia torres didn't kill her. >> reporter: the defense is planting seeds of doubt in the jury's mind because it's task is to find torres guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. quote, where's the evidence she's deceased? she's missing and nothing else. the defense also found itself chuckling an laughing as he poked holes in the evidence against garcia torres. >> i think the prosecution is trying to be folks si with this and to develop a rapport but the prosecution, but it's the defense theory

reporting) estacio - "do you have any comment - hudled together - family members - including antonin garcia- torres parents' left the crowded courthouse steps shortly after the guilty verdict was delivered. estacio - "do you think he will tell where the body is now?" seemingly distraught - garcia torres mother wiped away a tear, but when asked repeatedly to say something about her son, she stayed silent as she and others were escorted by sheriff's deputies to a waiting car.estacio - " do you believe he is guilty." another person said to be relative did speak up - "it is very sad for both of the families, very unfortunate situation." "do you think he is guilty?" no." as for garcia-torres defense team - who argued through the 3 month long trial that sierra was not murdered or missing, but that she was simply a runaway - only this - estacio - "are you going to say anything? no, not today." in san jose, te (pam) close to one- thousand volunteers have given up their saturdays over the past several years... searching for sierra lamar. grant lodes is here with the relief from this legion of sierra support

. >>> prosecutors and defense attorneys in the antonin garcia torres murder case. . >>> prosecutors wrapped up closing statements of the morgan hill man accused of killing high school student sarah lamarr, as she walked to a bus stop on her way to school. jesse gary has been covering the trial since it started. how did prosecutors and their statement to the jury? >>reporter: prosecutor david boyd asked the panel of 12 to find torres guilty of kidnapping sierra lamarr and in his words, i'm quoting here, do unspeakable things to her and kill her and dispose of the body. boyd played a police video of garcia torres getting interviewed by detectives. the primary suspect admitted he did not fully understand the concept of dna and he did not understand how it got on her clothing. boy told jurors somehow, someway his dna made it onto sierra's pants adding he knows what he did, wanted to do it and was compelled to do it. there would have to be, i'm quoting again, conspiracy of improbabilities for jurors to find the defendant not guilty. he caused by saying don't reward his cunning he handed closing

lawyers for antonin garcia torres want a psychologist to show he was affected by trauma from his childhoodtor interview torres. his sentencing begins on tuesday. >>> tonight north korea says its latest rocket launch shows it has the technology necessary to reach the u.s. with a missile. >> abc news reporter gloria riviera has more on the escalation situation along the korean peninsula. >> that launch raising troubling questions about the increasing sophistication of north korea's missile program. >> it's the first time we've seen any military missile go this far. but we can be sure that the north koreans are trying to make this missile nuclear capable. >> the medium range ballistic missile launched early sunday, reaching an unusually high altitude. covering 430 miles over 30 minutes before coming down into the sea between north korea and japan, a few hundred miles from russia. >> because these missiles are getting more and more capable, shooting up twhards russia allowed them to test the maximum range of this particular missile. >> in a statement, the white house called north korea a flagr

. >> closing arguments started today in the capital murder trial of antonin garcia torres. theye 2 kidnapping and killing sierra lamar five years ago. >> she was 15-year-old at the time. abc7 news reporter david louie has been in court all day. he's live at the hall of justice in san jose. david. >> reporter: alma and larry, all the evidence has been presented. all of the testimony has been heard. on friday, the jury is expected to start deliberating whether or not antolin garcia torres is guilty of killing sierra lamar or not. but today and tomorrow his closing arguments, a process that is sometimes painfully tearful as they review all the details of the case. this is the opportunity for the two sides in this ce to sort through the testimony and evidence presented over the past three months to clarify what they think is most important for the seven women and five men of the jury. today was prosecutor's attorney. he said accused killer torres silenced sierra so she could never say what he did to her. and her body would never be found. his attorney says he shouldn't be convi

antonin garcia torres is accused of kidnapping and murdering the morgan hill teenager although her body has never been found. we'll follow the case all morning long and bring you updates on nbc bay area news at 11:00 a.m. >> a question confronting a local school board right now. should five east bay schools be allowed to split up from their current district to form a new one. the contra costa board of education will take up that issue later today. there's a big push from so hch called advocates to separate the north gate high school and its feeder schools from the mt. diablo unified school dwiktd. backers of the plan says the district has ignored the needs of the cools, but they say they're against the plan, saying it's a plan to out the most affluent portion of the district, leading to racial segregation and unfair distribution of resources. regardless of what the county decides, the state will the final say. >> you have noticed temperatures heeding up here and across the united states right now. as that happens, wildfire risk is also going up. forecasters say that's significantly high

reporting) estacio - "do you have any comment - hudled together - family members - including antonin garcia- torres parents' left the crowded courthouse steps shortly after the guilty verdict was delivered. estacio - "do you think he will tell where the body is now?" seemingly distraught - garcia torres mother wiped away a tear, but when asked repeatedly to say something about her son, she stayed silent as she and others were escorted by sheriff's deputies to a waiting car.estacio - " do you believe he is guilty." another person said to be relative did speak up - "it is very sad for both of the families, very unfortunate situation." "do you think he is guilty?" no." as for garcia-torres defense team - who argued through the 3 month long trial that sierra was not murdered or missing, but that she was simply a runaway - only this - estacio - "are you going to say anything? no, not today." in san jose, te ( james ) our coverage of the sierra lamar murder trial continues on kron four dot com. we have a timeline tracking the disappearance from the beginning. we also go in-depth with legal analysts about

stack the defense attorney for antonin torres is expected to wrap up. garcia torres and charged with killing 15-year-old sierra lamarr five years ago. even though her body has never been found. the prosecutor using dna evidence including a mars a dna and garcia torres car as well as her hair tangled in a rope. it was also found in a car. the defense attorney is trying to persuade the jury that she did not die but that she ran away. and the go analyst is that the prosecutor has the mark difficult a job now. >> it is not a defense job to prove the case for the prosecution topic with the defense is saying is there is not enough evidence to suggest that sierra lamarr is dead and that garcia torres is responsible for her murder. slack once the defense attorney finishes and closing arguments the prosecutor gets one chance to present a rebuttal to convince the jury of garcia torres guilty jurors could get instructions from the judge and begin to rations as early as tomorrow. >>> 6:07 am. four status state university students are recovering after they were attacked by