One of the South Bay's best-known murder cases goes back before a jury this week. Opening statements in the retrial of Antolin Garcia-Torres are set for 9 a.m. Monday, Nov. 2, CBS San Francisco reported. He is accused of killing Morgan Hill teenager Sierra LaMar in 2012.
The case
LaMar, 15, disappeared in March 2012 on her way to school. Her body has never been found. Her phone and belongings were later found by the side of a road two miles from her home, NBC Bay Area reported. Investigators linked Garcia-Torres to her through DNA evidence. NBC said her DNA was found in his car.
A jury convicted Garcia-Torres in 2017, and he was sentenced to life in prison. In February 2026, California's Sixth District Court of Appeal overturned the conviction.
Why the conviction was thrown out
Prosecutors had tried the murder together with three attempted kidnappings in Morgan Hill Safeway parking lots in 2009. The appeals court said that was wrong. "The charged murder was not sufficiently similar to the Safeway incidents," the court wrote, according to CBS. It found the combined trial "prejudiced defendant."
The court also found there was not enough evidence of premeditated murder or a specific intent to kill, so prosecutors cannot rely on those theories in the retrial. The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office says he still faces a murder charge and the three attempted kidnapping charges, CBS reported.
Pretrial fights
Judge Brian Buckelew refused a defense request to step aside, NBC Bay Area reported. He also barred prosecutors from using Cybergenetics, the DNA analysis firm from the first trial, citing a conflict of interest. The defense, led by Alfonso Lopez, has also asked to dismiss the case on double jeopardy grounds and to throw out an interrogation, SFist reported. Rulings on those motions had not been reported.
CBS News Bay Area plans to stream the trial.