Juan Torres

Juan Torres testified for the prosecution on Day 5 about his last conversation with his older brother, Jorge Torres, on February 23, 2020. He described an ordinary check-in call on speakerphone with his wife and two children present. He recognized Sarah Boone yelling in the background, recalled language about choking or Jorge having choked her, and said she sounded upset. His recollection of her exact words was limited, and he estimated that the call lasted perhaps ten minutes.

On cross-examination, Juan described Jorge's speech as normal and without slurring, and said Sarah's voice gave him no indication that she had been drinking. He agreed with counsel's alternative descriptions of her yelling about choking but acknowledged that he had not asked Jorge what she meant. Although he said the yelling prompted the call to end, he specified on cross-examination that Jorge ended it. The prosecution declined redirect, and the court released Juan subject to recall by either party.

Defense counsel James Owens later invoked Juan's account of the background yelling as support for Boone's abuse narrative. That was the defense's use of his testimony; Juan's account concerned what he heard over the telephone, not an observation of a choking incident.