US Woman Who Filmed Boyfriend’s Death in Suitcase Was ‘Justified in Her Actions,’ Defense Claims

A woman in the US who filmed her boyfriend suffocating in a suitcase while laughing is being defended as ‘justified in her actions,’ according to her attorney. Sarah Boone, who is on trial in Orlando, Florida, faces charges of second-degree murder for the death of her partner, Jorge Torres, in February 2020, told The Metro.

Boone, 46, claims she and Torres, 42, were playing a drunken game of hide-and-seek when he willingly climbed into the suitcase. She told police that she fell asleep during the game and woke up the next morning to find Torres dead inside the suitcase.

In his opening statement, broadcast live on Court TV, Boone’s defense lawyer, James Owens argued that Boone did not intend to kill Torres but had sought a “captive audience” after enduring years of abuse in their tumultuous three-year relationship. Owens told the jury that Boone’s actions were ‘justified,’ as she had suffered repeated abuse at the hands of Torres.

Assistant State Attorney William Jay, prosecuting the case, presented a different narrative, claiming that Boone acted with “malicious intent to punish him” before leaving him to die. Part of the prosecution’s case includes a disturbing video filmed by Boone, in which Torres can be heard pleading from inside the suitcase, repeatedly saying, “Sarah, I can’t breathe.”

In the video, Boone is heard giggling and responding, “For everything you’ve done to me, for everything you’ve done to me. F*** you. F*** you. Stupid,” while comparing his struggle to breathe with the times he allegedly choked her.

Owens, Boone’s ninth defense lawyer after previous attorneys resigned over “irreconcilable differences,” acknowledged that both Boone and Torres were alcoholics and had a volatile relationship. Owens detailed the abuse Boone suffered, stating, “Jorge Torres physically abused Sarah Boone, and she suffered from the psychological effects that one suffers from repeat violence from an intimate partner.”

He described Torres as being emotionally unstable and prone to physical violence when intoxicated, saying, “When his level of intoxication gets to a certain level is when he gets sad, moody, and a lot of times eventually it involved forcible sex with Sarah Boone or actual physical violence.”

Owens explained that Boone saw the suitcase as a form of “physical restraint” where Torres was forced to listen to her. “She lets him have it, says things she shouldn’t say,” Owens admitted.

Both Boone and Torres had prior arrests for battery against each other during their relationship. Boone’s ex-husband, Brian Boone, testified that she drunkenly called him on the night of Torres’s death, though he initially did not take the call seriously. The following day, she informed him of Torres’s death, asking him to come over. Upon arriving, Brian Boone noticed Torres’s feet sticking out from the suitcase but waited outside for emergency services.

Jurors were also shown police bodycam footage, where Boone repeated her claim that they had been playing hide-and-seek before she fell asleep. Boone, currently in custody, rejected a plea deal that would have resulted in a 15-year sentence for manslaughter. If convicted of second-degree murder, she faces a minimum sentence of 22-and-a-half years in prison.