Jury selection began on Monday in the trial of Sarah Boone who is accused of killing her boyfriend by trapping him in a suitcase.
Boone, 46, is charged with second-degree murder related to the 2020 death of her boyfriend Jorge Torres Jr., 42. She allegedly convinced Torres to get inside a suitcase at a home in Florida, zipped it shut and refused to let him out. When she opened the suitcase the next morning, he was dead.
The trial was originally scheduled to begin on October 7, but Orange County Circuit Judge Michael S. Kraynick sent prospective jurors home and pushed the start date back due to Hurricane Milton approaching the region.
Prospective jurors returned to the Orange County Courthouse on Monday at 9 a.m.
Hurricane Milton made landfall on Wednesday as a Category 3 storm. The hurricane, which had winds of 120 mph, left a path of destruction across the state. At least 23 people were killed by the storm in Florida.
Proceedings have been delayed 16 times since Boone’s February 2020 arrest. During that time, Boone has been represented by nine different lawyers, several of whom resigned due to “irreconcilable differences.”
Boone is currently represented by James Owens. He found Boone through a handwritten flyer she made from jail. He made his first appearance as her lawyer in September.
She rejected a plea deal by prosecutors last week that would have reduced her potential sentence to 15 years if she pleaded guilty to manslaughter. If Boone is found guilty of murder, the minimum sentence is 22-and-a-half years.
Once jury selection is completed, prosecutors and defense will deliver opening statements.
Owens has indicated in court documents that he intends to argue that Boone suffered from battered spouse syndrome. The argument would paint the incident as an act of self-defense due to abuse. Boone previously claimed that Torres’ death was an accident.
Before Owens decided to take on Boone’s case, she was representing herself. Several of her lawyers had been public defenders, leading Kraynick to rule that she has forfeited her right to court-appointed counsel in June.
“It has become apparent to the Court that Defendant will not permit herself to be represented by anyone,” Kraynick said in the ruling.
The court order also stated that the trial will not be delayed “for any reason, except by extraordinarily good cause and such extraordinarily good cause shall not include retention of counsel by the defendant.”
Boone is currently being held in Orange County Jail.
Do you have a story Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.
Read the full article here
