BENTONVILLE -- A 15-year-old girl described Tuesday the horrible abuse she said her younger brother suffered at the hands of their biological parents.
The teen testified Tuesday at Mauricio Torres' capital murder trial.
Torres, 53, of Bella Vista is charged with capital murder and battery. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
He is accused of shoving a stick in his 6-year-old son's rectum, causing an infection that caused the boy's death. Chronic child abuse was also a factor in Maurice Isaiah Torres' death, doctors concluded.
The teenage girl is Isaiah's older sister and Mauricio Torres' biological daughter. Isaiah also has a twin sister. His sisters were adopted after his death and the arrests of their biological parents.
The older sister told jurors Tuesday she remembers waking up the morning of Isaiah's death and finding him tied up with shoelaces in the bathtub. She said her parents were angry that he had eaten cake.
The teen said Mauricio Torres got angry at her brother and dragged him in the camper while the family was in Missouri. He made Isaiah take off his clothes, and she saw Torres beating him with a stick, she said.
She told jurors she remembers Isaiah complaining about being sick on their return trip home. He died hours later in a Bella Vista hospital.
She was with her biological parents and sister when they learned Isaiah had died. The girl testified Mauricio Torres instructed her not to say anything about her brother's death to police.
She said her home life with Mauricio and Cathy Torres was not normal.
"It wasn't a friendly or safe place to live," she said.
She said Mauricio Torres was the dominant parent.
Torres described himself in police interviews as the follower and his wife as the controlling figure in their relationship.
The teen said Isaiah was treated differently from her and her sister.
Isaiah had to mainly eat rice and sometimes peanut butter, the girl said. She and the rest of the family had normal meals, the teen said.
She remembered Isaiah having to sleep in a cage in a bathroom.
"Did you witness Isaiah being physically abused when you lived with Mauricio and Cathy?" Benton County Prosecuting Attorney Nathan Smith asked.
"Yes," she replied.
She said she saw each of her biological parents hit Isaiah.
She said Mauricio Torres also made her hit her brother with a stick.
Isaiah was hit with a stick, cables, shoes and fists, the teenager said.
She said Mauricio Torres punished her brother by pulling his teeth with pliers and Isaiah would be screaming and trying to pull away. She also described when Isaiah had to stay in a trash bin for about a month. She said she saw her biological parents pour bleach on him.
Torres said in police interviews that Isaiah ended up hospitalized with chemical burns after falling down in bleach in the bathroom.
The girl said Torres forced Isaiah to drink urine and eat feces.
She told Smith her memories are strong ones for her.
She told Bill James, one of Mauricio Torres' attorneys, that she did not see her brother get injured with the stick on March 30, 2015, the day of Isaiah's death. She told James she remembers her biological mother beating Isaiah with a stick while Torres was at work.
Dr. Stephen Erickson, deputy chief medical examiner for the Arkansas Crime Laboratory, told the jurors about Isaiah 's injuries. He testified Isaiah's cause of death was anal rectal trauma, which caused the infection that led to his death. He said a contributing factor was chronic child abuse since Isaiah had multiple injuries on his body.
"This is one of the worst ones in my career, and I've seen some bad ones," Erickson said about the abuse inflicted on Isaiah.
The defense immediately objected in response to Erickson's statement.
Jeff Rosenzweig, one of Torres' attorneys, requested a mistrial. He said Erickson's statement was prejudicial against Torres and improper profiling. Rosenzweig said it's impossible to cross-examine Erickson without having access to the other autopsies. He said a mistrial was the only appropriate remedy.
Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren denied the mistrial request. He said he was looking at the jury while Erickson was testifying. Karren said he did not think the jury was impacted by Erickson's statement.
The judge did instruct the jury to disregard any testimony comparing the case to other cases.
Bryan Sexton, chief deputy prosecutor, questioned Erickson about photographs taken of Isaiah's body. Erickson stood and pointed out the injuries on each of the photographs.
He told the jury Isaiah's missing teeth were not consistent with falling out, but from an impact of either being pulled out or knocked out. He pointed out Isaiah had suffered a broken nose. He also pointed out other injuries on Isaiah's legs, back and stomach.
Isaiah suffered 23 injuries or wounds on his head, the doctor said.
Erickson testified doctors could have saved Isaiah's life if he had received immediate medical care.
Torres, who is being held without bail in the Benton County jail, was tried, convicted and sentenced to death in 2016 in his son's death, but the state Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 2019 and ordered that Torres receive a new trial.
A second jury found Torres guilty of murder and battery. The proceedings ended during the sentencing phase March 5, 2020, when a witness jumped from the witness stand box and attempted to attack Torres. A Benton County sheriff's deputy and a bailiff stopped the witness from reaching Torres.
Karren declared a mistrial and ruled Torres should have another trial. The Arkansas attorney general's office appealed, but the Arkansas Supreme Court agreed with Karren.
Tuesday's proceedings started with the judge and attorneys discussing a juror who is a dual resident of Arkansas and Missouri.
Karren told her they were dismissing her from the panel out of an abundance of caution since the law is not clear on the issue.
He stressed she did not do anything wrong and had reported her status.
One of the two alternates replaced her. Three alternates were chosen last week, but one was dismissed early in the trial because of illness.
Cathy Torres is expected to be called to testify by the defense. She pleaded guilty in March 2017 to capital murder and battery. She was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
Prosecutors may rest their case today after reading Mauricio Torres' testimony when he testified at the second trial.