BENTONVILLE. Ark. (AP) - An Arkansas judge has appointed a special master to investigate the conduct of a witness who charged at his stepfather during his stepfather’s sentencing hearing for the 2015 killing of a young son.
Circuit Judge Brad Karren, who declared a mistrial after the incident, told prosecutors and Mauricio Alejandro Torres’ attorneys on Tuesday that he appointed a Little Rock attorney, Tim Cullen, to look into the matter, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
A Benton County jury convicted Torres, 50, of capital murder and battery in the killing of his 6-year-old son, Maurice Isaiah Torres. A medical examiner determined that the boy’s death was the result of a bacterial infection caused by being sodomized and chronically abused.
During the sentencing portion of the trial last week, Torres’ 24-year-old stepson testified that Torres had physically abused him as a child. When asked if Torres had sexually abused him, the stepson lunged at Torres but was restrained before he could reach him. Because the stepson may have been the victim of sexual abuse, The Associated Press is not naming him.
Karren scheduled a hearing for March 19 to decide if the entire case or just the sentencing portion has to be retried. He also issued a gag order blocking the lawyers from talking to the media.
Torres was convicted in 2016 and sentenced to death, but the Arkansas Supreme Court overturned the conviction last year.
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