LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) The Arkansas Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for a death row inmate who was convicted in the death of his 6-year-old son.
Investigators say Mauricio Alejandro Torres used a stick to sexually assault the boy while the family was camping in Missouri. A medical examiner blamed the boy’s death on a bacterial infection caused by the assault.
Torres’ attorneys have said his actions were intended as punishment, not sexual gratification.
Torres was convicted of capital murder in 2016. But in a 4-3 ruling Thursday, justices ruled that Arkansas authorities couldn’t use rape as a justification for the capital murder conviction because the assault occurred in Missouri. The boy died at an Arkansas hospital a day after the assault.
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