10.Closing Argument — Defense

MR. OWENS: You-all know me. I'm James Owens, along with Tony Henderson and the girls, we're all from Milton. I think you-all figured that out, that we were from out of town. Santa Rosa County, it's Northwest Florida close to Pensacola. And my buddy, Kevin Beck, he's a long-time friend. He's from New Mexico. The team, the defense team, is here and we're here to represent Ms. Sarah Boone. And we feel confident that we're going to be able to show you why she's not guilty, okay?

And I'm gonna take my time. I've got some notes. I'm not the most organized person in the world. I've got some exhibits that we're going to show you and then we've got a couple of videos at the end, okay? And we're going to try our best to help you make the right decision, okay?

But, yeah, Milton is a small town.

MR. OWENS: All I wanted to say is just, since we've been here, we've been treated with respect and hospitality and just like we've been at home, and we appreciate that.

Now, I'm going to do some reading and then I'm going to do some talking, but, ultimately, this is about justifiable use of force. That is a legal defense in Florida. We as citizens, the law is designed to protect us from defending ourselves to protect us from a potential attack. And you are the only ones in this case, because Sarah Boone was arrested, that's going to be able to look at it critically and objectively; objectively, not like the state attorney.

MR. OWENS: Thank you, Judge.

They've got their side, their position, we've got our side. So we're going to talk about that, but -- and we're going to talk about justifiable use of deadly force and non-deadly force, but either way, however you rule, it still justifies her behavior, and the result is not guilty.

Now, I don't believe there's anybody --

MR. OWENS: I think you will find from considering the evidence in this case that there is no doubt that Sarah Boone is a victim, that Sarah Boone has been traumatized, that Sarah Boone is still traumatized, and the reason for the trauma is Jorge Torres. The reason for the trauma is Jorge Torres.

From the positive things about the man that we've seen on video to the positive things Sarah Boone has testified about him, to the violent monster he becomes. And I mean monster, because it was repeatedly.

And what happens the next day? Man, I don't remember. I was drunk. I don't remember. That's the gaslighting that this young woman, vulnerable woman with nobody, just starving for love, starving for attention and seeing the good in the man -- and it was good, but every day was on the balance. She measured every day depending on how it started and then how it ended, and that's the way she had to live her life, day in and day out, day in and day out.

Dr. Harper and Dr. Brannon talked about trauma. Dr. Harper spoke of the veterans that she had treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. I don't know if you remember her testimony, but she spoke about some of the veterans that had been in the war in Iraq, you know, and people in war a lot of times get post-traumatic stress. It used to be called shell shock and other things, but people in wartime -- or police officers. Police officers will get post-traumatic stress. And a lot of them come in -- the males come in with this bravado, Oh, I'm all right, I'm all right. And so that's why Dr. Harper was talking about the veterans, that's what they'll do, but you've got to spend time with them. It just can't be one session and you've got to run post-traumatic stress testing, which tells whether they really have post-traumatic stress.

And we all probably have experience in trauma. All of us have lost some loved ones, and it's awful. You're in shock, you can't believe it. It's disbelief. You don't sleep for days and eventually you have to go back to work. You take a week off, life has to go on. Life has to go on, you go back to work, kids are in school, you get a little time, right? Time heals, right? These veterans that come back from a deployment, they get back, they get some semblance of normalcy, they may or may not get some treatment, but time helps, time heals. Everybody, it helps, just time. Overcoming a divorce, overcoming a death, whatever trauma.

Sarah Boone had no break. No break. Learned helplessness. Just given up. Had just given up. I can't -- I can't get out of this situation. They broke up. She'd go about two days. She'd go about two days. Texting, calling; just learned helplessness.

And it's -- you know, in the manual, battered spouse syndrome is not, but what did you hear Dr. Harper say? She suffers from post-traumatic stress. That is a mental disorder. You are actually undergoing the psychological effects of post-traumatic stress. You're not in your right mind, and it's repeating itself. It's repeating itself again and again, day in and day out. And when you look at this law, that's what you have to apply, someone in Sarah Boone's shoes, when you're deciding whether her conduct was reasonable.

I've got a bunch of notes. There was something I wanted to read. Where did her depo go? This is it.

Sarah Boone's long-term exposure to abuse created a state of learned helplessness and diminished her capacity to assess risk, especially in moments of heightened stress. The cyclical nature of this violence -- the tension building, the battering, the contrition phases -- caused Sarah to be trapped psychologically in that relationship. Due to this clear abuse, Sarah Boone had a reasonable belief of imminent harm under her state of mind. Jorge Torres had a history of violence against Sarah and, as a result, Sarah Boone's actions were the result of fear conditioned by abuse she endured over time. The cumulative effects of long-term abuse is -- we saw her behavior on the two-minute suitcase video, is a trauma response. Sarah Boone acted out of a sense of preservation. While tragic, it was not driven by malice, but a mind ravaged by abuse.

And I'm going to ask you to try to understand, try to understand.

Sarah Boone, being emotionally and psychologically broken, whose actions may have been misguided attempts at survival, but not murder. Imminent danger, her response reacted to that belief. It's somebody suffering from the long-term psychological effects of domestic violence. Who spent a lot of time? Dr. Brannon. You remember him, he was the first expert on trauma. Took some notes. Kevin Beck, you remember, did the direct examination of Dr. Brannon. He was from down in Miami, I think.

He talked about the trauma, that you cannot escape from the abuse, so you develop coping skills to protect yourself, knowing that the bad things will happen to me. It changes your behavior; not only your behavior, but your thinking, your subjective thinking about fear and what to do.

And if you remember, Dr. Brannon said, it's all about that person's perception, okay? A lot of times they will self-medicate with alcohol or drugs. A lot of times they suffer from anxiety. Basically, he said the trauma ends up being terror because you do not know what to expect, you do not know what is going to happen that night. It may be a great night. You may drink and both of you have a great time. He falls asleep, passes out; you fall asleep, pass out. But it may turn violent depending on his mood. I don't know if you could tell, she would try to placate him.

Dr. Brannon said, you know, when you're trying to evaluate somebody, it takes time to get them to trust you. And the ultimate goal, he said, is to be a behavioral detective -- if you're a forensic psychologist, is to be a behavioral detective, and the ultimate goal is to put yourself in the abused person's eyes so you can better understand their world. But, ultimately, it's their perception of danger. Their perception of danger is what you have to look at, what a reasonable person would do under their perception of danger.

Now, I want to go on. Trauma experts explain how victim's reactions in moments of stress are the product of the damaged psyche. Her actions, although tragic -- and it was a tragedy that Jorge Torres lost his life in that suitcase -- it's a reactionary response to sustained trauma. It's as if Sarah was acting out of a deeply ingrained fear and helplessness developed over the years. So it's a desperate need for survival, but battered women do things to keep the peace from time to time. And when they feel like they have a small portion of momentary power, they may enjoy that by vocalizing their position to the abuser.

Sarah Boone is not perfect. Sarah Boone would argue with him, talk down to him. Some would say was somewhat abusive to him. Sarah is not charged with that. Sarah Boone is not charged with that.

And I want to read you something on that subject, if I can find it. Essentially -- yeah, I don't know where it's at, but I'm going to have to come back to it, but essentially what it said was -- essentially what it said was eventually -- here it is. It's been a two-week trial, I've got a bunch of notes. I'm trying to get this right. I know it's important.

What I wanted to say was, someone can be mean and angry and hateful and intoxicated and still be abused. They're not mutually exclusive. And mutual abuse exists where one is abusive towards another and eventually the victim, Sarah Boone, trying to fight back against the abuse, became verbally abusive. While the victim has committed verbal abuse, it is important to remember that they, Sarah Boone, are the victim and have been pulled into an extremely vicious cycle where they are trying to survive.

Sarah Boone intentionally left Jorge Torres in the Suitcase, which was the act of a battered spouse syndrome woman. She went up to her room, she fell asleep, and passed out. These actions are disconnected. Ultimately, she didn't let him out because of her fear that she knew, if he got out in that moment, what he would do. That's real fear, that's real trauma that she was experiencing at that time.

Now, I talked to you about force being used and I talked -- I think I talked to you about blocking an attack, using a physical restraint, like the suitcase, to block somebody's attack. And the example I'd give -- I've got a couple of examples that may or may not apply. Let's say you're in bar and you've got your buddies and the other guy has got their buddies and you're drinking and there ends up being an argument between two of them, and you realize that these two are fixin' to get in it. Well, one of your buddies comes around on the other side and grabs the guy before he's able to strike you, right? So you're committing an offense on this guy, but it's a restraint. It's a restraint. Or you grab him by the neck and try to get him out of the bar. So, yeah, you're committing an act, but it's designed to defend another, which is legal.

Or let's say you have a situation where you have a police officer and he's on patrol. You know, he's in uniform. He's wearing a firearm and, of course, he's got the bulletproof vest, and he's called -- he goes to a call where there's a suspect that may be armed, a suspect that may be armed. And so he gets there, gets out of his squad car, he's walking around. Of course, he's taking out his gun because he realizes he may be armed, and eventually he sees the suspect and the suspect reaches for his waist. Now, in that moment and time, that officer has to make a decision, am I the one holding my family tonight?

And I asked Dr. Werner about this basal instinct. It's called the fear response or fight or flight. You know, those decisions are made, it's instinctive, based on your set of circumstances. She instinctively reacted to her unique set of circumstances to save her life or save herself from another one of these. And I'm 63, I can't imagine that. I can't imagine that. Her father is not around.

I need to talk about the case a little bit, and if you'll remember -- I'll get back -- I'll get back to it. If you'll remember -- I lost my place I needed to go.

Let's start with the witnesses and then I'll talk about Sarah. But the first witness out of the box for the State, if you'll remember, was Juan Torres, the brother. You remember that? It was some time ago. I know it's been a while. You-all have taken notes. You may have to go back. Their first witness was a good witness for us. Their first witness of their prosecution of Sarah Boone for murder was a good witness for us.

Remember, Tony Henderson did the cross-examine of Juan Torres. Asked him, What did you hear Sarah Boone say? Juan Torres: She was yelling, He's been choking me, he's been choking me. Mr. Henderson said, Did that surprise you? Juan Torres said, No.

That family knew what was going on. The police knew what was going on. The neighbors knew what was going on.

Pearl Walker came in here, 80-something years old, in a wheelchair. Kevin Beck called her up. She saw it. Is there any doubt? Is there any doubt?

I tell you why there's no doubt. In cross-examination, I got Dr. Werner to even admit -- did you hear it -- yes, okay, Mr. Owens, she suffers from battered spouse syndrome. Wouldn't admit it on direct. Well, maybe. I don't really know. I hadn't had enough time to really see her. You haven't seen the pictures? You haven't seen the two-minute video? You've seen it one time earlier this month, one time, and she's going to start testifying about stuff she's never said before until she showed up in court about, Well, based on what she told me, I don't think she was in imminent fear. Come on. This is a courtroom. This is a courtroom. Good thing you-all are here. We thank you. But it gets even worse than that. It gets even worse than that here in this courtroom.

The state attorney referred to these pictures --

MR. OWENS: They said I was going to rise up and show these pictures to you. Well, yeah, I'm gonna do that. They put her on trial for murder.

But what did they say? And I've got to turn to this, make sure I get this exactly like they said it, because I took a bunch of notes. Let me make sure I got this quote. Can't even find it, but it was something to the effect, maybe Jorge Torres is the battered spouse. Can you believe it? Can you believe that? Now you know why we're here. Now you know why we're here.

Little boys learn early on that girls are different. You do not put your hands on a girl. You can't wrestle with them, you can't punch them, you can't kick them. You can't treat women that way. When you become adults, I don't care what she does to you, I don't care what she says to you, if she gets in your face, whatever she does, you do not have a right to hit a woman. No, sir.

What is the state attorney trying to do?

MR. OWENS: What evidence have they tried to paint Sarah -- Sarah as? What evidence? Control and manipulated were the words they used.

You know, this ain't the 1900s, this is 2024. What's all these text messages? Why is that relevant? What are they trying to claim? She provoked his violence? She provoked his violence, isn't that what they've done here in this trial?

MR. OWENS: Let me get back on this.

Abraham Moreno, I don't know if you remember him. Abraham Moreno changed his statement. They took a statement from Abraham Moreno in which Sarah stated -- I don't know if you remember, but it was when the police were all there. I think they had gotten taken out and some neighbors were coming around and there were two or three neighbors sitting around. He said Sarah came out and stated it was an accident, okay? Well, then -- it was an accident.

Abraham Moreno knew Jorge Torres from Philly, okay? They were friends. They would talk either at the complex or if Moreno went to Hall's Ace Hardware or Ace Hardware or whatever it was called. Well, the state attorney notifies --

MR. OWENS: So for four and a half years, Moreno says, All I heard Sarah say that afternoon was it was an accident. Then he came in here today -- or this week and said, No, she said I was teaching him a lesson, things got out of hand, and then I fell asleep, four and a half years later. We know he's friends with Torres. We heard it here.

Now, I want to talk to you about the -- the two boys that live right next door. Do you remember Vincent, Vincent Battaglia, and Brandon Moats? You remember those guys? And you remember it came out in testimony -- you know, this event happened on February 23rd of 2020, but it came out in the testimony that Sarah had said Jorge Torres, the night before, February 22nd of 2020, grabbed me by my hair and pulled me down the stairs in my apartment from top to bottom, which is consistent with what they were saying happened. Remember? But they got the dates wrong.

And, remember, Mr. Henderson called Deputy Koepsell -- or Detective Koepsell up in our case and she had to say, Yeah, I didn't take their two statements until the 27th, February the 27th. You remember?

So they're remembering back, and they both had Similar -- of course, they had time to talk by then, the 27th. I think the only recorded interviews they got the night of this event, February 23rd, was from Sarah Boone and her ex-husband, Brian Boone, right? So they came back following up on the 27th. That's when they got a statement from Brandon Moats and Vincent Battaglia. And at that time, they said, Yeah, we heard that sound.

You remember Sarah testifying, No, that was the night before. I had complained about that. And I think one of them had testified, yes, she had said something about getting drug down the night before. It may have been -- I can't remember now who it was. One of them. And, you know, it looked like -- that there may be some implication that Sarah got him in the suitcase and pushed him down the stairs, but I think we didn't hear anything more of that. Remember?

And then this photograph, which we introduced, which shows the bottom of the stairs. AS you can see, there's Lucas' bookshelf right here. This is where Sarah, Sarah Boone, stored Lucas' stuff, and you can see it's not disturbed at all.

Anyway, I want to get back to Sarah and I want to talk a little bit about that. Let me talk a little bit about the law. On justifiable use of force, it is legal and lawful if you reasonably believe -- I think you-all probably already understand it by now -- you reasonably believe it was necessary to prevent imminent threats of harm. The law is crucial, ensuring that individuals can safeguard themselves in potentially dangerous situations by acknowledging you have a right to defend yourself when you have a reasonable belief that force is necessary to prevent an attack, okay?

What did Mr. Henderson say in jury selection? You don't have to wait. You do not have to wait. If you're facing in your mind a reasonable imminent threat, you don't have to wait.

Let's talk about Sarah Boone and this unconventional form of physical restraint to block the attack of Jorge Torres. What did she say? You saw the tape. Now, you've got to think about that. You've got to think about what was going on. You've got to think about the trauma she was undergoing. You've got to think about, they both had been drinking, and you've got to think about the fact that it was all fun and games for a while.

And I think the biggest thing to note is that Jorge Torres chose to get in the suitcase. He's a grown man. That was his choice. She didn't force him in it at gunpoint to get into that suitcase. He voluntarily got into that suitcase because they were drunk and being silly and stupid and playing hide-and-seek, which I guess when you get so drunk, that seemed like a good thing.

Zipped him up. They're laughing, carrying on. And as you know, Sarah likes to videotape a lot. And I know you've seen some of these videos and you're wondering why, but I think the evidence shows that when Jorge is being videotaped, he's not going to do anything. If you think about that, when Jorge is being videotaped, that's like her power. You know, Dr. Harper said that Sarah's words are her power. Sarah's words are her power. Physically -- physically, she's no match for Jorge. Physically, she's not, but that's her power, is her words. When she gets a chance -- when she gets a chance to have some control, that's what she does. And she videotapes, because she knows when she's videotaping, she can tell it like it is. I can tell him what I want to tell him. A couple of these videos, you've seen that. She's telling him like it is. And she's got that video camera on and Jorge knows he's being video'd. We've got one that we're going to show you ina little bit where he loses it just a little bit right at the end. And, of course, we've got the TV.

But they're kidding around, playing around. Then, you know, Sarah realizes, okay, this is my chance to say something to him, so she sits down, she turns on the phone, and you've seen the tape. You've seen the tape. For everything you've done to me are the first words out of Sarah's mouth when the video begins. There's a lot packed into those words. Think about that. For everything you've done to me. This is how it feels when you choke me.

Now, that's in direct response and the result of the abuse that she's suffered at the hands of Jorge Torres. She wants him for that moment to feel how she feels. She wants for that moment to feel -- for him to feel how she feels. How uncomfortable, lack of control that she feels when Jorge is violent with her. Just for a moment she wanted him to feel that way. And if you can imagine --

MR. OWENS: JI think from the evidence you can determine she was crazy about him. She was crazy about him, and I don't know if -- you know, of course, it's a syndrome, but she felt like she couldn't do without him.

And let's say she videotapes him and then it's turned off and there's a 9-minute gap, ll-minute gap, whatever it is -- I said 11, they're saying 9, but I think if you count two of the other minutes, but there's nine minutes that we don't have video, but what did Sarah say?

Now, if you remember, when you listen on that video, Jorge is talking in a normal voice. He's not stressed. Of course, if you're talking, you can breathe. She had said she had some air. And, of course, she doesn't realize the situation, that it's going to end the way it ends, so she has no appreciation of that. It's a canvas -- all she knows, it's an old canvas suitcase that she's got some -- the two zippers were moved or spread out a little bit so he can breathe. So she thinks he's not being serious, but eventually he gets angry. She gets angry, he gets angry. He says words to her and then his hand starts to come out of the suitcase.

She also said his tone changed. And I know everybody has got a cadence with their spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend, but you know what I'm talking about. We've got a way of talking to people. We've got a way, your wife, your husband. You just -- you know each other. You know when they come in from work what kind of mood they're in just by a couple of things, the way -- you can just sense it, right?

Well, especially somebody as hypervigilant as Sarah and as hypervigilant as a battered spouse woman would realize that he can flip the switch at any time. When I get out of here, I'm gonna end you. And he realizes he's getting out. He got his hand out. At that moment in time in Sarah's mind, that's an imminent threat, so she's got a justifiable right to use force.

What did she do? She went over there and grabbed it. She lifted it up. She tried to get his hand back in, you remember? She tried to get his band to go back in. Wouldn't go back in, so her son's bat was three feet away. Where the police found it the next morning, same spot. No attempts to hide. No attempt to delete phone. No attempts to tamper with evidence, nothing. In the same spot as it was.

She picks up the bat and she pokes, and she pokes him hard, trying to get him to stop trying to get out, and eventually he does. And you've seen the blunt force injuries. And you saw some of the circular injuries where you could tell there's a poking. I think it's right around here (indicating), and she poked him several times. You remember the pathologist said, I think, maybe five, six, or seven times she pokes him.

And he's got some scratches. I don't know if they'll let you look at it, but on the back of that Suitcase, it's got some bars, some metal bars that are inside the lining. There's some lining, and it's for support when you are walking it down like that

MR. OWENS: She testified. You heard what she said, that she was justified. That's uncontroverted testimony.

Now, let's talk about the jury instructions just for a minute, and I want to talk -- I want to talk about reasonable doubt for a minute. And can't find the page, but I've got a blowup here. Let me find it.

If you-all are looking, I think it's on page 15 of 22. And we're going to talk about reasonable doubt in a minute, but if you look at those bottom three short paragraphs: It is the evidence introduced in this trial, and to it alone, that you are to look for the evidence -- or to look for that proof. A reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the defendant may arise from the evidence itself, a conflict in the evidence, or a lack of evidence.

But here's the main thing. And, you know, obviously, I represent her and I'm trying my best to show you honestly and fairly the doubt in this case. And 5 reasonable doubts, 17 reasonable doubts, 25 reasonable doubts; you have to have one reasonable doubt. I'm trying to show you throughout the evidence, but each one of you can have a different reasonable doubt, a different, but one reasonable doubt about the State's case and your verdict is not guilty, according to the law.

Proof beyond a reasonable doubt does not mean proof beyond all doubt. A reasonable doubt is not a mere possible doubt, speculative doubt or imaginary or forced doubt. Such a doubt must not influence you to return a verdict of not guilty if you have an abiding conviction of guilt. Now, this is a deeply held belief. Reasonable doubt is the highest standard that we recognize in litigation. You know, a car wreck or something like that is preponderance of the evidence standard; 51 percent, you're entitled. Abiding conviction, that's a deeply held belief that you must have if you're thinking about something. That's a firm belief. That's a level of certainty that you would have. That's what you've gotta have as a juror. I've got to be certain of her guilt.

If -- on the other hand, if after carefully considering, comparing, and weighing all the evidence -- which we want you to do -- there is not an abiding conviction of guilt -- so I'm not certain, I'm not certain of her guilt -- or if you have a conviction -- I think there's some evidence of guilt -- but it is one that is not stable, one which wavers and vacillates, one which wavers and vacillates, then the charge is not proved beyond a reasonable doubt and you should find the defendant not guilty because the doubt is reasonable.

Do you understand that? You've got to be certain of guilt. That's the high standard we recognize. If you've got -- I've got some evidence of guilt, so, okay, there's some evidence for a conviction, but it's not -- it's not stable, it wavers and vacillates. Then under our system, you've got a reasonable doubt and you've got the power and authority and the obligation under the law, if that's the way you feel, to vote that way.

Later an instruction, it goes on: It is up to you to decide what evidence is reliable. You should use your common sense in deciding which is the best evidence and which evidence should not be relied upon in considering your verdict. You may find some of the evidence not reliable or less reliable than other evidence. You may rely on your own conclusion about the credibility of a witness. That is totally the province of the jurors to decide that. A juror may believe or disbelieve any or all of the part of the evidence or the testimony of any witness.

I want to show you this before I forget it, but Dr. Werner said -- this is their expert again. We've testified that Sarah Boone suffers from battered spouse syndrome. Battered women's experiences affect her perception of imminent danger. Those past experiences with Jorge Torres, those past experiences with Jorge Torres, and there's a bunch, affect their perception.

Remember, Dr. Brannon -- or Michael Brannon talked about perception of imminent danger. Victims of repeat violence may fear death in situations others would not. The reason Sarah experiences all this, the reason she was feeling the way she was feeling, that imminent threat of danger from Jorge was because of Jorge Torres. Jorge Torres is responsible for her mental state because of the way he has violently treated her. She reacted to his attempts to get out because of the way he treated her and the way he -- she knows he -- what is he gonna do if he gets out of the suitcase? She knows. The second video was played. She's flipped it back upside right. You hear him, it's 22 seconds, he says, Sarah. She's not going to open that suitcase. She's not going to open that. He's already threatened her. She used the bat to get him to stop trying to get out of it. Why would she do that? Why would she do that? I know what he's gonna do. I know what he's gonna do to me. I know him like I know more -- I know him more than he knows himself. I know what he's going to do to me. You don't have to wait. That was justifiable.

Now, you've got to understand this, she intentionally used the bat to defend herself. She intentionally didn't unzip him to defend herself. Both of those are lawful under our law.

She went upstairs. The dogs were upstairs. At some point she called her husband -- her ex-husband, Brian Boone. We know that many times she testified or somebody -- somebody in court said she would often flee to her ex-husband's house sometimes. I believe that testimony came out from either Sarah or somebody, that sometimes she would flee or sometimes she would flee to upstairs, one of those two.

But the dogs were up there. She made a phone call. At some point she fell asleep. Passed out, fell asleep, we don't know. They had two big bottles of wine, right? That was unintentional. That was unintentional. His death was unintentional.

You remember when she was in the interrogation room? Do you remember that? Now, I don't know if we did a good job of this, but it came out that she got arrested. Do you remember the one time when she got the black eye? She got arrested for strangulation, do you remember that? They ended up over there by the dryer and he was banging her back of her head on the -- on the floor that had very little carpet on it. And she ended up getting her arms out and then she grabbed his neck and she eventually got him off of her, and that's when he got up and stomped her in the eye. Remember? Well, the police came for that event and they took a statement, and Sarah -- Sarah was honest with the officers about what all, and they arrested her. Do you remember? You remember that? They arrested her. And she said, Why? I was fighting back. Do you remember that? Why? I was fighting back. So from that point on, she didn't trust law enforcement.

The video that they showed a while ago about Jorge, that was about dropping the case where she was defending herself and fighting back.

IT want to talk about this investigation by law enforcement. Now, she didn't know the law. She's not a lawyer. She gets up the next morning, Brian is calling. Sarah has got to pick up Lucas at 3:00. Brian is calling. Brian is calling. Brian is calling. Eventually she walks down. She's looking for Jorge. Where is Jorge? It's quiet down there. I think she looks in the bathroom. She looks out. Is he smoking a cigarette? Is he on the computer? She sees the Suitcase, and you can imagine --

MR. OWENS: She sees him in the suitcase. She panics, but what does she do? What did she do? She tries to get her fiancee out of the suitcase. They're engaged to be married. She's not trying to kill him. They're engaged to be married. She gets him out. She tries to do -- he's purple. She tries her best to do CPR. She doesn't -- and you heard her, I didn't know what to do, I didn't know -- call Brian. That's her safety belt. That's all she's got.

Brian eventually says he's coming over. She calls again in two minutes; I'm on the way. He gets there, You've got to call 911. He may have told her before, call 911. She calls 911. She tries to do CPR again. Is she busy trying to hide evidence? Is she busy trying to hide evidence? Is she busy trying to hide the bat? No. She's trying to save his life, if she can.

So the police get there. She knows if she told them she fought back, she's going to be arrested. That's what happened before. That's what happened before. Like Jorge had said on the video, she had never been arrested before, before that time she was charged with that with Jorge.

She lies. She lies. She's scared. She's scared. She doesn't know what to do, so she lies. She makes a decision to lie; I don't trust law enforcement. She doesn't know the law. She doesn't call a lawyer.

She talked to -- Officer Rodriguez was the first short black female that came up here first, the first one that arrived on the bodycam, talks to her. There's a recorded statement there where she doesn't tell the whole story. She lies. And then the detectives eventually get there and get her in the squad car and you hear the audio. I think it was played. She lies again.

Then the next day she goes down to the sheriff's department. Now, if they would have told her, Hey, ma'am, we're going to arrest you, and she gets a lawyer to go down there to make the statement, and a lawyer would advise her --

MR. OWENS: She's not a lawyer. She didn't have a lawyer present when she made those statements. She didn't know the law. She didn't know she was justified in defending herself the way she did in this dysfunctional, toxic, abusive relationship.

I don't know if you remember, it was a two-hour video, but there were some things she said, you know, not intentional, and eventually she wanted the detective -- it was Detective Lowen, the male detective, and she said, I swear to you on my son's life it was not intentional. What she was talking about was that Jorge passed, was that Jorge died. That was not intentional. She thought he was fine in there. Would he sober up?

We've learned from their history, when Sarah gets drunk, she calls for help. When Jorge gets drunk, he beats Sarah. That's their pattern. How many times did we see Sarah call the law? That's their pattern. Sarah told them, I didn't know -- I think she said, I didn't know something like this could happen. I've never done it before. And Detective Lowen said, Well, what did you expect was gonna happen?

You know, I've got a daughter that she -- she's about 18 or 19, and she got -- she got her grandmother's hand-me-down pickup truck. And it was an older truck, but she didn't have it long and, you know, she was gassing it up, but she didn't put any oil in it and eventually it burnt up. And you don't know what you don't know. I hadn't done a good job of explaining, Hey, you've got to put oil in it too.

Sarah Boone didn't know that he could die in there. It's an old beat-up canvas suitcase that she left a gap in. And as naive as that sounds, as naive as that sounds, she didn't appreciate the danger. I mean, is that the way you want to kill somebody? Is that the way you're gonna do it? She had Lucas to take care of. Am I going to go to prison doing it like this? No attempt to hide the crime. I think the evidence is clear that's how this happened.

I don't want to belabor the point, but I do want to show you -- just quickly show you the injuries.

Sarah Boone got stabbed. And think about that, stabbed with a steak knife in the leg and she stayed with him. She stayed with him.

Poked between the eyes with a curtain rod. Stomped in the eye. I mean, who does that?

The law empowers an individual to defend their life and safety when faced with a threat and to prevent an attack. That's what Sarah Boone did. That's what Sarah Boone did.

I think it's important to understand, Sarah had to be the parent a lot of times. It was her place. She had that thousand dollars a month from the divorce settlement coming in. She had the car. She had the phone. She had the keys. She had to be the parent in a lot of ways.

I want to talk a little bit about Dr. Harper. If you remember, you know, Dr. Harper is from Okaloosa County, which is up in the Panhandle, close to where we're from, and she's the doctor that treated Sarah from early on. Remember, this happened in 2020. I think -- I think she first treated or first saw Sarah Boone shortly thereafter. And over the -- over the four and a half years, saw her nine times and did all the testing for post-traumatic stress. Of course, she has the experience from the veterans and she's testified that she's now just traveling around the state testifying as a forensic psychologist.

But, you know, she talked about how important it is to develop trust with the patient over a course of time. It's just going to take time. When you have somebody suffering that kind of trauma and that kind of damaged psyche, it's going to take some time to get -- to get them where they can trust you and really tell you and talk to you and tell you what's going on with them.

She talked about, you know, that Sarah uses her words for power. I think her testimony -- I don't think --

MR. OWENS: I can't give my personal opinion, okay? The evidence supports that her testimony was credible because of the time that she spent, because of the number of tests that she did, that she diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol use disorder, I think anxiety disorder, and battered spouse syndrome. Of course, Dr. Werner confirmed that.

And, you know, Dr. Michael Brannon, the first witness, he was brought in as a subject matter expert, so he hadn't treated Sarah. He was just testifying about the condition. He's been doing it a long time, he's an expert at it, and that's to advise you to try to understand what's going on.

And as crazy as it sounds, in this syndrome, they try to protect the abuser. They're in love with them, they try to protect them.

I don't know if you remember, but there was a time where Sarah Boone had a conversation with one of the neighbors and they talked about something, and she said, Did you hear anything last night? Remember, she said, Shh, it's okay. Both Jorge and Sarah lied to the police. They lied to the medical people. I don't know if it's shame, but it just comes with the syndrome, that you stay trapped in it.

I think another big -- if you'll think about this, when Sarah gets beaten by Jorge, she calls the police. When Sarah gets beaten by Jorge, she calls the police. And a lot of times she just wants him out, just get him out, get him to leave. She doesn't want him to get in trouble, she just wants him out. There never was a report of Jorge calling the police on Sarah. She wasn't physically abusing him.

The State is trying to present evidence --

MR. OWENS: I believe the evidence that's been presented by the State is an attempt to show that Sarah mentally or emotionally abused Jorge Torres. Again, she's not charged with that. She's not perfect. Some of that was her trauma.

In Sarah's situation, you do become numb and hardened, I think, over time. That's a coping mechanism. It's a day-to-day thing. Some good days, some, you know...

But the homicide detectives -- I know that you saw that two-hour video. At some point during the two-hour video, they started talking about some of the violence and they go, We know, we know. They had already checked with neighbors or whatever. They knew. The neighbors knew. The police officers knew who responded. Torres' family knew. They all knew about the abuse.

Dr. Harper testified that abused women act differently when they perceive a threat. I think Sarah Boone was loyal to a fault to Jorge, even through all the abuse.

Judge, I want to make a comment about a couple of things that were said by the prosecutor in opening statement.

MR. OWENS: Okay. The prosecutor in opening statement, when he was talking about Jorge Torres passing away, had started talking about Sarah Boone. And his quote was, because I wrote it down, Jorge -- in Sarah Boone's mind, Jorge Torres deserved it; Jorge Torres deserved it. That's the position they're taking, he deserved to die. She loved the man. She wasn't trying to kill him.

He also commented about --

MR. OWENS: The prosecutor said in opening about the violence, the violent episodes. It's a bunch of violent nonsense was his statement to you in opening statement. All this here, photographs, is a bunch of violent nonsense. You'll have to make your mind up whether that's accurate.

There were a couple of exhibits that I introduced late, and they were no contact provisions, where there had been a court order from a judge -- not only a verbal order, but it was reduced to writing. So there was a court order for Jorge Torres not to have any contact with Sarah Boone, okay? The court system got involved. They were to have no contact with Jorge Torres.

Now, I need to talk a little bit about that. And they talked about coercion -- coercive control, power and control, power and control. We know about his abuse. We know he destroyed the home, the TV. We know about his jealousy. We know some of the things he said to her. We know about how he treated her dogs; nicely when he was sober, but at times abused the dogs or threatened to do so.

You think -- if you think about power and control, when you're controlling a person -- and I think she testified that he kind of smothered her, always around her. Part of his fear was her realizing that she had enough and to leave him for good. That she would get the strength over time, if she had enough time away from him, where she wasn't in control of it and he wasn't in control of it, enough time away, she would come to her senses and realize she could do better.

The judge has been giving court orders all week. That didn't stop Jorge Torres. Jorge Torres knew he was gonna lose control. If she had a bunch of time away from him, she might move on. He was willing to violate a court order to maintain control. That's Jorge Torres.

I want to show a couple of videos and then I want to say something to you. Shelbie Andrews is going to help.

If we could dim the lights.

MR. OWENS: Did you see him flip the switch?

Look -- look at him.

MR. OWENS: Did you see him flip the switch in that instance where he lost it, even though the video was going?

Show the next one.

MR. OWENS: Thank you.

Thank you, Judge.

Can you turn it off?

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna finish up right here. And Sarah Boone I've gotten to know.

MR. OWENS: Sarah Boone is like any other citizen. Equal justice under the law. She's to be treated like any other citizen, fairly and impartially, based on the circumstances she was facing at the time of this tragedy, based on the battered spouse instruction, which is a special instruction that's given when women have a heightened sense of fear and trauma, that you're to utilize in applying her subjective standard to the reasonable standard of what a reasonable person would do under her circumstances in using the force that she used to defend herself.

I hope I haven't missed anything. I've tried my best.

Sarah Boone fought back and survived. We ask that you do justice in this case and find her not guilty because the doubt is reasonable. I've tried to show you where the doubt was. I trust your judgment. We spent a long time picking the jury; four days. We trust you. We appreciate your service and your obligation to do your duty. You have the power and authority to right this wrong. That's what we're asking you to do. And give Sarah Boone some hope for a better life.

Thank you.