Man who ‘killed son by raping him with stick for eating cake’ could escape death sentence on technicality
A FATHER who allegedly killed his young son by raping him with a stick for eating a piece of cake will escape the death penalty if found guilty on a state law technicality.
Mauricio Torres is currently appearing at Benton County Circuit Court in Arkansas for a retrial over the shocking death of six-year-old Maurice ‘Isaiah’ Torres.
He was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 2016, but his conviction was later overturned by the courts.
State law dictates that capital murder offenses that carry the death penalty must be tried in the same state as where they are being prosecuted.
And while young Isaiah died in his home state of Arkansas, the shocking assault that killed him happened in Missouri.
The youngster reportedly died of septic shock after being horrifically violated during a camping trip in March 2015.
It's alleged the schoolboy was punished by his 50-year-old dad for eating a small piece of cake without permission.
He later died at a Bella Vista medical clinic near his home
A medical examiner testified in the original trial that the death was caused by a bacterial infection resulting from sodomy.
In court on Friday, Dr. Franklin Mayhue - who treated Isaiah and had to pronounce him dead after being unable to save his life - said the boy appeared to be suffering from ongoing abuse.
"He had wounds all over his body," Mayhue said, according to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
"This was an extreme picture of a child who was not only dead, but dead from a bizarre situation."
He also said he never witnessed a couple react to being told of the death of a child they way Torres and his wife, Carly, did.
";The was an absence of a normal grieving response from parents that lost a child," he said.
The disturbing details of his short life and protracted death were set before the court on Thursday. “This is a story of abuse, torture, and murder of six-year-old Isaiah,” Benton County Prosecutor Nathan Smith told jurors. “He suffered chronic child abuse syndrome. The pictures you will see are ugly, grotesque.”
Torres is charged with capital murder and battery and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Both state prosecutors and the defense team have the child's mom Cathy Torres on their witness lists.
She pleaded guilty in March 2017 to capital murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
The same witnesses who were called in the first trial are expected to testify during the second trial.
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Torres is currently being held without bail in the Benton County jail and faces life imprisonment if convicted of the murder charge.
He could be sentenced to from five to 20 years if a jury finds him guilty of the battery charge.