Updated update on Sarah Boone’s murder trial with sentencing due

Sarah Boone is expected to be sentenced for killing her boyfriend Monday by trapping him in a suitcase.

Boone, 46, was convicted of second-degree murder after her boyfriend, 42-year-old Jorge Torres Jr., died in 2020. When she opened the suitcase the next morning, he was dead.

Boone faces a life sentence and a minimum of 22.5 years in prison.

Opening statements in the trial began on October 18. Prosecutors argued that Boone intended to kill Torres when she put him in the suitcase.

“She did this with the malicious intent of punishing him, and then she fell asleep and left him to take his last breaths alone on this earth,” Assistant District Attorney William Jay said in his opening statement.

James Owens, Boone’s attorney, disputed the claim that his client wanted her boyfriend dead. He told the court that Boone’s boyfriend had been abusive but that she “loved” him and couldn’t leave. The lawyer said she tried changing the locks and kicked him out, but he “kept coming back.” She “loved” her boyfriend, but he was abusive

“She had no family. She didn’t have the support. She was weak and vulnerable.”

Boone testified in the case on Oct. 22 and said Torres wanted to start the day drinking because it was his day off from work. But she “persuaded him to clean the house” to “get a sense of achievement.”

Later that day, the couple drank wine, worked on a puzzle, painted, danced and listened to music, Boone said. She said they ended the evening with a game of hide-and-seek. At one point in the game, Boone said she caught Torres trying to fit into a suitcase.

“I zipped it up,” Boone said. “We thought it was funny and joked that he was so small he could fit in the suitcase.”

According to Boone, Torres’ mood began to change and the couple began arguing. Then she went upstairs and fell asleep. According to an affidavit, Boone believed he could free himself from the suitcase because his two fingers were sticking out of the suitcase.

Boone found him dead in the suitcase the next morning and called 911.

In November, Boone filed a motion for a new trial alleging prosecutorial misconduct.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.