Closing arguments are expected to begin in the murder trial of Sarah Boone on Friday.
Boone, 46, is charged with second-degree murder in the 2020 death of her boyfriend, 42-year-old Jorge Torres Jr. She is accused of convinced her boyfriend to get inside a suitcase at a home in Florida, then zipping it shut and refusing to let him out. When she opened the suitcase the next morning, he was dead.
The trial began with jury selection on October 14 and opening statements started on October 18.
Sarah Boone watches her attorney point at the suitcase her boyfriend died in during her trial at the Orange County Courthouse in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. Closing arguments in the trial are expected to begin on Friday.
Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel via AP
Assistant State Attorney William Jay argued that Boone intended to kill Torres in his opening statement.
“She did this with the malicious intent to punish him and then she went up to sleep and left him to take his final breaths on this Earth alone,” Jay said.
Boone’s lawyer, James Owens, pushed back against the claim in his opening statement.
“The prosecutors mentioned that she wanted him to die,” Owens said. “The furthest from the truth, she loved him. She hated the abuse. She couldn’t leave. She tried, she tried kicking him out six or seven times. He kept coming back. She changed the locks. He kept coming back. She didn’t have the family. She didn’t have the support. She was weak, vulnerable.”
The prosecution then presented its case. The 14 witnesses called to the stand by prosecutors included law enforcement officers, a medical examiner, Torres’ brother, former neighbors of the couple and Boone’s ex-husband. The state rested its case on Tuesday.
The defense began presenting its case by calling Boone as its first witness. She answered various questions about the day Torres died.
Jorge Torres, Jr. died in 2020 after being trapped in a suitcase overnight by his girlfriend Sarah Boone. The two had a history of dating violence.
Good Life Funeral Home
“He wanted to start the day off by drinking because it was a day off from his job, and I talked him into cleaning and tidying up the house for a sense of accomplishment,” Boone said.
Boone said they drank wine, worked on a puzzle, painted, danced and listened to music later that day. She said they concluded the night by playing a game of hide and seek.
“I guess he knew that I couldn’t come up with anything to else, tapped me on my knee and said, ‘you’re it.’ So from there I ran up the stairs and hid into our shower, just waiting for him to find me,” Boone said.
She said that when she came back downstairs, Torres was getting inside of the suitcase.
“I zipped him up,” Boone said. “We thought it was funny, and we’re joking about how he was small enough to fit inside of the suitcase.”
Sarah Boone was asked to show how Jorge Torres Jr. was positioned in the suitcase. She later put gloves on to demonstrate how she zipped the suitcase up.
Court TV
The game then took a dark turn, according to Boone.
“His tone changed, and I knew the tone, and we ended up, I guess, arguing back and forth with one another,” Boone said.
Boone said she later went upstairs and fell asleep. She claimed she was “never” trying to kill Torres.
Additional witnesses called by the defense included law enforcement officials, psychologists and a former neighbor of the couple. The defense rested its case on Thursday.
The prosecution began presenting a rebuttal, which is expected to conclude on Friday.
After closing arguments, the jury will begin deliberations.
Boone faces a minimum of 22 and a half years in prison and a potential life sentence if convicted.
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