Trial for man charged in notorious 2005 Zion murders to begin in 2016
The trial of a former Zion man accused of the notorious 2005 murders of two little girls will take place in 2016, officials said Tuesday.
Prosecution and defense attorneys told Judge Daniel Shanes they expect to argue motions in the case against Jorge Avila-Torrez, 25, in preparation for the trial to begin after Jan. 1.
Defense attorney Jed Stone said the need for the delay is due to various investigations and additional DNA testing that needs to be completed before the case goes to trial. He would not discuss details of the investigation he is conducting.
"Jorge is eager for me to present his defense at trial," Stone said afterward.
Avila-Torrez is charged with 18 varying counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 8-year-old Laura Hobbs and 9-year-old Krystal Tobias on Mother's Day in 2005.
The case made national headlines.
Laura's father, Jerry Hobbs, and her grandfather found the bodies in a park the next morning.
The police zeroed in on Jerry Hobbs, and he confessed to the killings after being interrogated by police for nearly 24 hours. However, after he spent nearly five years in Lake County jail, DNA evidence pointed to someone else. Hobbs was released from jail more than two years after he was cleared by DNA and later sued the county for wrongful imprisonment.
While Hobbs was incarcerated, Avila-Torrez was charged with killing a Navy sailor at a barracks in 2009 and for stalking attacks on three women in northern Virginia in 2010, including one who was raped, choked and left for dead.
The former Marine was captured and convicted in the attacks on the three women and was sentenced to five life sentences plus 168 years.
DNA evidence collected from Avila-Torrezz also linked him to the murder of Petty Officer Amanda Snell, 20, and to the Zion slayings, authorities said.
After Avila-Torrez was sentenced to death for killing Snell in 2014, he was transported back to Lake County to stand trial in the Zion murders.
If found guilty at trial, Torrez can be sentenced only up to 100 years in prison. Officials said the charges normally would result in a life sentence, but because Torrez was 16 at the time of the murders, his maximum is 100 years.
Torrez remains held in Lake County jail without bond. He is due back in court Aug. 26.