-
Torres
After initially entering a guilty plea in reference to the intoxicated manslaughter incident that left one Beaumont police officer dead in 2020, the now-20-year-old accused man reversed his decision at his May 23 sentencing hearing, telling the judge he wants to go to trial.
Luis Fernando Torres, 20, pleaded guilty in April to the manslaughter charge, leaving his punishment up to Jefferson County Criminal Court Judge John Stevens. He told Stevens he reversed his decision ahead of his Monday sentencing hearing. His trial date is set for July 18.
According to the probable cause affidavit detailing his alleged crimes, Torres drunkenly drove and crashed his Mustang into a patrolling police unit, killing 23-year-old BPD Officer Sheena Yarbrough-Powell, when he was 18.
According to previous reporting by The Examiner, Torres initially asked for a trial that was scheduled to begin April 19, with a jury already in place to hear the case. However, Judge Stevens dismissed the jury that morning at about 11 a.m., just before Torres entered the courtroom to enter a guilty plea he’d reverse a month later.
Claiming culpability for her death in an April 19 guilty plea, Torres agreed to an offer from the District Attorney’s Office, limiting Judge Stevens’ May 23 sentencing to no more than 30 years. However, altering the court’s plans for at least a second time, Torres decided he wants a trial and told the judge as much on the date he was set to hear his fate.
According to information from the Jefferson County Jail, Torres has been behind bars since Aug. 13, 2020.