Sentence Hearing:
A sentence hearing is where the judge sentences the guilty party for the crime they committed. The judge has sentencing guidelines provided by the law in that state and has discretion on making a sentence within that guideline. The judge can give the minimum, maximum or a sentence in between. In a sentence hearing the victim’s family members or friends can make an impact statement and give the judge a recommendation of what they would like the sentence to be. The defendant can also choose or not to choose to make a statement. Usually if the defendant makes a statement it is to express how remorseful they are and try to convince the judge to give the minimum sentence required. However, that is not what happened in this case.
Victim Impact Statements:
Bianca Torres, Jorge’s Mother: Jorge’s mother makes a statement through her tears that she doesn’t hate Sarah Boone. The last time she talked to him was on New Year’s Eve, when Jorge woke her up to tell her Happy New Year and that he loves her. She often looks out the window for him to come home and tell her he loves her yet again. She misses him and her family misses him. She states she was blessed because she got to raise Jorge and he was a good son. Sarah is not blessed like her and will never have what she had with Jorge
Victoria Torres, Jorge’s Sister: She states her brother deserves justice and that Sarah deserves to rot in jail. Sarah has inflicted a lifetime of pain and horrible images of her brother begging for his life in the suitcase. She has turned her life upside down.
Anna Torres, Jorge’s Daughter: Jorge’s daughter states that she wakes up screaming thinking about what happened to her father. Since this has happened, she has nightmares, chronic depression and anxiety. She has had to seek therapy in order to avoid a random breakdown. Her siblings are also different. Jorge was her father and best friend. He deserved to be treated like a human being. His light on this Earth has been dimmed by evilness. She wants Sarah to see his face everyday especially at night when she is trying to sleep.
Sarah Boone’s Statement:
Sarah Boone took the stand once again and first read from a statement that she had written. She indicated that she was reading an edited version of the statement as there was so much more that she needed to say. Then she addressed Jorge’s family directly. She was on the stand for about ½ hr.
Her statement started off about the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery and glassware with gold called kintsugi. It is based on the Zen Buddhist ideal of wabi-sabi which encourages people to appreciate imperfection and find beauty in aged and worn objects. Each piece of art which has cracks becomes more beautiful due to its brokenness. She states that God has been her Artisan and all of her gold has been forgiveness. She explains that forgiveness is like the gold used to repair the cracks in ceramics. If you forgive it makes you brighter, more beautiful and free from sorrow. “When you forgive, you heal and when you heal, you move forward.” This has made her shine brighter and recover all the damage caused by Jorge Torres, his family, the correctional center, the justice system, social media, scoundrel detectives, defamation, ongoing constitutional rights violations, forced being pro se and 2nd degree murder.
Then she goes on to state that her gold begins with Jorge Torres and states specific examples of ways that he apparently abused her. She forgives him for everything he did to her including giving her the “M Scarlett letter” for murder. She then forgives Jorge’s family including his mother, father, 2 ex-wives and Jorge’s daughters for all know who Jorge was and what he was capable of doing. She states they knew Jorge’s history of abuse and turned a blind eye when she asked them for help. They allowed and enabled the abuse and cared too late. She also wants the family to ask themselves what they could have done to prevent this from happening.
She then blames social media for greed and deception and calls social media organized crime. Social media has condemned her and she has become a pariah. She states that they were manipulating her case online so her case could not come to a fair conclusion. She blamed media tycoons who have no life of their own and has taken blood money.
She then forgives herself for not choosing herself and getting out of the situation sooner. She stated she fell in love with a monster and tried to break the spell so he wouldn’t be a monster anymore. She states that he was her greatest lesson and she still loves and misses him.
Finally at 14 minutes in, she apologizes to Jorge’s family and asks for their forgiveness. She thinks of him everyday especially when she looks at her stab wound from him. She states she didn’t mean for this to happen. She asks the family and the judge for forgiveness instead of judgment. She asks for understanding and repentance. She ends her written statement stating she is a survivor and everyone needs to protect the abused.
For her statement to the family she states that they know Jorge and her had good days and loved one another. This has changed her forever and she will have Jorge in her heart and soul. She again states she is sorry and that words do not describe her shame. She asks for forgiveness.
The Judge sentenced Sarah Boone to life in prison.
Did Justice Prevail? Yes, I believe she deserved the maximum sentence. First of all I just have to say WOW! I have never heard a defendant speak that way at a sentence hearing. Usually a statement is very short and either showing remorse to the victim’s family or telling the judge why they should be sentenced to the minimum. Not a long statement about her being the victim and everyone else is to blame for her situation and not getting a just verdict! I do believe she was a victim of domestic violence. I believe Jorge did abuse her as well as her to him. However, let us remember that Jorge was murdered in a horrific way and that was her doing and her fault. Why is she saying that she forgives everyone for their wrong doing? She is the one that murdered Jorge and He is in the wrong and his family is in the wrong and social media and the whole justice system is in the wrong? What about her? She did apologize, however it seemed an afterthought. I was blown away by these statements.
Then after her sentencing which of course she didn’t approve of, she sent the letter she read from during her sentencing to the judge. A 28 page letter! Including in that letter she sent the judge a note stating that she was hoping for a better outcome and to be met with understanding and forgiveness. She then called him ignorant for making up his mind about her sentence before hearing her speak. She states she is not a murderer but a survivor. She thinks that the judge was biased and that he got his wish in her spending the rest of her life in prison. She is happy that she is no longer in his corrupt court. However, she forgives him.
WOW again! Jaw dropped! She has definitely shown us who she is through these letters and statements. She seems to be willing to hand out the forgiveness but unwilling to take responsibility for what she has done. I just don’t understand the mentality of a person who cannot take accountability for what they have done and saying it is everyone else’s fault. The nerve of her to blame the family! And there is no remorse or emotion. Nothing. This only solidifies her being in prison for the rest of her life.
I hope and pray that Jorge’s family can feel some peace in the sentence. And do not bear any weight on her blaming them for this horrible, horrendous act against their loved one. She may have been a victim of domestic violence but she is not a victim in this murder or trial or sentencing. There was a better way of getting out of the situation than murder. These domestic violence cases are difficult and very emotional. However, in this case I don’t believe that suffocating Jorge Torres in a suitcase was the only way.
To hear her full statement at her sentencing hearing, you can watch it on Court TV.
What are your thoughts on Sarah Boone’s sentencing and statements?
Did Justice Prevail? 