Sarah Boone sentenced to life in prison

After Sarah Boone was convicted of second-degree murder in her boyfriend’s death in 2020, she was sentenced to life in prison.

More than four years ago, Jorge Torres Jr. died of asphyxiation after a medical examiner said he was trapped for about 11 hours in a small suitcase Boone had given him.

According to Boone’s testimony at her two-week trial in October, Torres Jr. willingly and playfully got into the suitcase – but the woman never let it out once it was zipped inside.

James Owens, Boone’s ninth attorney, insisted throughout the trial that the woman suffered from “battered spouse syndrome,” which led her to leave Torres Jr. in the suitcase because she feared he would attack her kill if she let him out.

According to several witnesses and Boone himself, the couple’s relationship was marked by violence. Two Orange County officers took the stand during the trial and confirmed that they had responded to several domestic calls at the couple’s Winter Park home just a year before the murder

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Boone testified that she was “terrifyingly scared” and thought it would be helpful to talk to her boyfriend while he was in the suitcase.

“I wanted him to try to understand my feelings so that maybe he could make progress and become a better person,” Boone said after a prosecutor asked why she didn’t open the suitcase after Torres Jr. said he couldn’t breathe.

The state insisted that Boone was not in imminent danger while the man was trapped in the suitcase and, rather, that he believed he deserved to die for his previous actions, including allegedly hitting her with a curtain rod.

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The behavioral health expert who conducted a court-ordered evaluation of Boone was also called to the stand during the trial and said she was unsure whether Boone’s behavior was due to post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.

“The way she described the incident to me and that they were laughing and having fun and didn’t contribute to passing on any triggers or trauma,” said behavioral health expert Dr. Tonia Werner, on the witness stand.

This was a direct rebuttal to another psychologist who testified that she had given Boone this diagnosis in the past.

In the end, the jury deliberated for only a short time before finding Boone guilty of second-degree murder.

About a week after the verdict, Boone and her defense filed a motion for a new trial, citing several fairness and legality concerns. According to those documents, Boone complained about, among other things, the denial of a court-appointed attorney, emotional outbursts in the courtroom and prosecutorial misconduct.

Before the verdict was announced on Monday, Judge Michael Kraynick rejected that request.