BENTONVILLE – A Bella Vista man on Friday begged jurors to spare his life, one day after they found him guilty of killing his 6-year-old son.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, tried to persuade the jury's eight men and four women to recommend a death sentence for Mauricio Alejandro Torres, 53, of Bella Vista.
"Please don't kill me," Torres said as he looked at jurors during his testimony in Friday's sentencing proceedings. "I want to redeem myself. My life is in your precious hands."
Torres, who was a licensed occupational therapist, said he could still help other inmates in that area, but that spreading God's word is the most important thing to him.
Torres said he was baptized while in the Benton County jail.
The jury found Torres, 53, guilty of capital murder and battery Thursday in the death of Maurice Isaiah Torres. Isaiah died March 30, 2015, from an infection caused when a stick was shoved in his rectum.
Torres could be sentenced to death or life in prison without parole for the murder conviction. He faces five to 20 years in prison for the battery conviction.
Torres said in a 2015 police interview that he put the stick in his son's rectum but later testified that his son was holding the stick while doing squats. Torres said Isaiah fell on the stick and it went inside his rectum.
Torres admitted he physically abused his son but claimed his wife was responsible for most of the abuse delivered to Isaiah. Cathy Torres, 51, pleaded guilty in 2017 to capital murder and battery. She was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Attorneys will give their closing statements Tuesday morning.
A daughter of Cathy Torres told jurors she stopped living with her mother in Jonesboro when she was 4 years old and her mother was in a relationship with Mauricio Torres. She described being sexually abused by Torres. She said she didn't remember how old she was at the time but knew she lived with her mother.
The woman said she told her aunt about the abuse. Mauricio Torres was never arrested in connection with the allegations.
She denied ever being coached to make the accusations against Torres.
"Are you confident in these memories?" Benton County Prosecuting Attorney Nathan Smith asked.
"Yes. They haunt me," she replied.
A grown son of Mauricio Torres testified that he lived in the same house with his father in California and Arkansas until he was 7 or 8 years old. The man said his father hit, kicked and threw him around.
"I remember one time being kicked real hard, and I threw up," he said, crying. "I had to eat my throw-up."
Smith asked whether Mauricio Torres ever had any sexual contact with him. The man said his father touched him in sexual ways when they lived in California and that the sexual abuse continued when the family moved to Arkansas.
Jeff Rosenzweig, one of Torres' attorneys, asked the man if he ever reported the abuse to anyone. The son said he was in counseling and told a counselor about the physical abuse but not the sexual abuse.
A grown daughter of Torres testified and described being abused by her father. She said she was 9 years old when she stopped living with him.
She also testified that her father physically abused her. She remembered her father hitting her with his hands, sandals, hangers, cords and a belt.
"It was with anything that was near or handy," she said.
She said the abuse was daily when they lived in California and Arkansas. She testified that her father also sexually abused her numerous times. He also forced her to be abusive toward her brother.
"Who made you do that?" Smith asked.
"Mauricio," she responded.
The woman said she was afraid and never told anyone about the abuse.
Prosecutors rested their case after her testimony.
The defense called Edgar Torres, Mauricio Torres' father.
Edgar Torres testified that his son came to the United States as a child from El Salvador. He said he obtained custody of him when he was 2 months old. He said Mauricio Torres never had any contact with his mother. He said he was 18 years old when his son was born and treated him like a younger brother.
Edgar Torres said he may have disciplined his son once or twice with a belt and mainly used exercise to discipline his son. Edgar Torres said he now feels it may have been extreme the way he used exercise to punish his son.
Mario Torres, Mauricio Torres' uncle, testified for the defense. He said exercise was used as a punishment for his nephew.
Shari Reed was married to Mario Torres. She described Mauricio Torres as a quiet, sad and obedient child.
She also described Mauricio Torres as love-starved, adding that she witnessed him being forced to do 50 or more squats at a time. She said he was being punished for not following a direction quickly enough. She also testified that she saw him being hit with a belt, which left him with bruises.
Reed said she observed domestic abuse in the Torres home when he was growing up.
Dr. Benjamin Silber, a clinical psychologist, testified that he evaluated Torres and diagnosed him as having post-traumatic stress.
The defense called one witness who is also a convicted murderer.
Anthony Ballett, 42, of Rogers was sentenced to 30 years in prison in September after a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder for killing Keundra Allen.
Ballett testified that he's been housed with Torres in the Benton County jail. Ballett said he and Torres talk about religion and that Torres gives him religious advice. He said the two talk about wanting to help other people find God. Torres has been a good adviser for him, Ballett said.
Torres testifiedthat he missed having a mother as a child. He told Rosenzweig he learned as an adult that he may have been conceived from his father raping a family member.
He said one of his earliest memories is being 3 years old and his uncle beating him with a belt when he had a difficult time tying his shoes. Torres said he was often kicked and beaten with a belt.
The beatings broke his spirit and self-esteem and drove him to want to find his mother, Torres said.
Torres said he was 5 years old when he witnessed men raping another man. He said he also saw horrible things as a child in El Salvador when war broke out in the country.
Torres said two men sexually assaulted him when he was 6 years old. He did not tell anyone because he was scared he would be blamed and beaten, he said.
Torres denied physically or sexually abusing his stepdaughter and his two adult children.
"I am a heterosexual male," Torres said. "I am, and I always will be."
Torres finished testifying and stood and started speaking to the jury. Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren quickly intervened and told Torres to stop. Torres then returned to his seat.