Sarah Boone, who is accused of murdering her boyfriend by trapping him in a suitcase, could take the stand in her trial on Tuesday.
Boone, 46, is facing a second-degree murder charge in the 2020 death of her boyfriend, 42-year-old Jorge Torres Jr. She allegedly convinced her boyfriend to get inside a suitcase at a home in Florida, then zipped it shut and refused to let him out. When she opened the suitcase the next morning, he was dead.
During opening statements, Boone’s attorney, James Owens, said she will testify. The prosecution rested its case on Tuesday, which means the defense can start calling witnesses and presenting its case.
The trial began with jury selection on October 14 and opening statements were delivered on Friday.
Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP
Assistant State Attorney William Jay argued that the killing was intentional 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.
Owens refuted this argument 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.”
Jurors in the Sarah Boone murder trial viewed cell phone videos and police interview footage on Monday.
Two videos taken from Boone’s cell phone were shown in court. The videos show a suitcase, and Torres’ voice could be heard from inside the luggage.
On one video, Torres called out “Sarah” and said he could not breathe multiple times.
Boone answers his pleading with responses like, “For everything you’ve done to me, f*** you,” “That’s my name; don’t wear it out” and “You should probably shut the f*** up.”
Prosecutors also played a recording of Boone’s interview with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
“My intention was not to leave him in there,” Boone told detectives.
The detectives tried to show Boone the video they found on her cell phone.
“I don’t want to watch it for you,” she said while looking away from the screen.
She also told detectives that her saying “f*** you” to Torres was “not malicious” and that she did not think his claims that he could not breathe were accurate.
“I thought it was the boy crying wolf,” Boone said.
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