Torres tries to appeal sentence

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

TORRES

Facing 36 years in prison, the teen convicted of the 1999 shooting of a convenience store clerk during a botched robbery attempt has filed an appeal in hopes of reducing his sentence or receiving a new trial.

The defendant, Abel Torres, now 19, has been behind bars for more than three years, serving in a facility for youthful offenders before being transferred to the state penitentiary on his 18th birthday.

Torres, who was 16 at the time of the crime, was convicted of robbery and attempted murder for shooting Angela McCormick outside Pit Stop North on Chancery Street in September 1999. Torres was arrested and admitted to the shooting.

However, he later claimed his stepbrother, Michael Cabrera, 19, committed the crime and that he took the blame because he was a juvenile. Torres was subsequently tried and convicted as an adult. Cabrera was given 10 years after entering a guilty plea to his charges.

A request for a new trial was shot down last year by the local court, leaving the defense with only the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals to rest its hope of reprieve.

According to public defender Dan Bryant, the defense hopes to bring into question the long sentence given to Torres by former Circuit Court Judge Charles Haston. Specifically, Bryant believes the court erred in running all the convictions against Torres consecutively.

“He doesn’t qualify for consecutive sentencing,” Bryant said. “We think the convictions should have been concurrent for a total of 12 years. He would still have to serve about half that so that would be about six years before chance of parole.”

Bryant said the court rested its lengthy sentence on Torres being a dangerous offender due to his actions and lack of remorse. However, Bryant said the court never actually explained how it came to the conclusion Torres was a dangerous offender.

In addition to attacking the sentence, the defense will bring into question the trial itself. Bryant said he has doubts there was enough proof to show Torres attempted to kill Young. While there was evidence he had shot at McCormick, Bryant said there was not ample evidence to convict Torres for the attempted murder of Young.

Appeals before the appellate court can take up to a year before a decision is rendered.