USA - Arkansas. The State Supreme Court granted a new trial to Mauricio Alejandro Torres

The Arkansas Supreme Court has granted 4-3 a new trial to Mauricio Alejandro Torres, who was sentenced to death in November 2016 for the murder of his six-year-old son. Prosecutors pursued a capital murder conviction under two possible theories, rape felony-murder or child-abuse murder. The court found that the alleged rape had taken place entirely in Missouri, leaving the Arkansas courts with no jurisdiction to try Torres for that offense. It reversed his conviction because the verdict slip did not indicate whether the capital murder conviction had been based on the invalid rape allegation.