A Florida woman who was accused of zipping her boyfriend into a suitcase and leaving him there to suffocate is preparing to stand trial for his murder next week.
Sarah Boone was charged with second-degree murder for the death of 42-year-old Jorge Torres in 2020. Her trial is expected to start next week after the state grapples with Hurricane Milton, which is expected to make landfall on Wednesday.
The 46-year-old’s trial has been subjected to several delays, partly because she’s switched attorneys multiple times. Her now-ninth attorney, James Owens, filed a motion requesting Boone be allowed to wear civilian clothing and have her hair styled and makeup done each day of the trial.
“I just think it’s just part of a fair trial,” Owens argued during a motions hearing on Monday.
Judge Michael Kraynick pointed out some challenges with the motion, noting that a previous case Owens cited to buttress his argument doesn’t specifically address beautification in court.
“The other problem is it’s contraband,” Judge Kraynick added. “That stuff’s not even purchasable at the commissary at the jail, any makeup or anything along those lines.”
Owens argued that he would have a legal team bring the cosmetics to apply inside or outside the courtroom with the judge’s approval. There was no argument from state prosecutors.
“I’ve never heard of it happening. That doesn’t mean it’s not permissible,” one prosecutor remarked.
Judge Kraynick was initially willing to grant the request as long as the makeup could be applied in the courtroom before trial proceedings begin each morning.
However, after speaking with an official from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, the judge denied the motion for cosmetics and hairstyling due to law enforcement concerns that the makeup could be considered contraband when Boone is returned to jail from the court each day. He approved part of the motion for civilian clothing.
“The concern is if makeup is affixed and she’s taken back downstairs then taken back to the Orange County Jail, they don’t know if it’s contraband, they don’t know what’s placed on her person,” the judge said.
Boone’s request has also opened her up to criticism from the public.
“Sarah Boone wants professional hair & makeup done ( narcissist much)…can’t pay for a lawyer, so who’s paying for that?” one person wrote in a local Facebook group. “APPALLING!! What makes these criminals think they should get everything they never had, from taxpayers now??? Entitlement? I don’t think so. She can wear her new stripes and, keep her hair as is, and absolutely NO MAKEUP!!,” another person replied. “Completely ridiculous!”
Owens is expected to make a self-defense argument for Boone, arguing that his client suffers from battered spouse syndrome.
Boone told detectives that she and Torres were drinking wine while playing hide-and-seek in their Winter Park home on Feb. 24, 2020, and decided it would be funny to zip Torres in a suitcase.
Boone said she zipped the suitcase up but left enough space for Torres to stick a couple of his fingers out. She said she decided to go to bed, believing Torres could get out on his own.
When she woke up the next morning, she found Torres’ body inside the suitcase.
Even though she told law enforcement that she never meant to leave him there, investigators later discovered videos on Boone’s phone that show Torres pleading for Boone to release him from the suitcase while a voice presumed to be Boone’s taunted him and accused him of cheating.
“Sarah, I can’t f—ing breathe,” Torres said.
“Yeah, that’s what you do when you choke me,” Boone responded in the video.
“Sarah, Sarah,” Torres said. “Sarah, I can’t breathe, babe.”
“That’s on you,” she responded.
“That’s what I feel like when you cheat on me,” she said later in the video.
“Please, Sarah,” Torres said.
“Shhh!” Boone responded.
