After being convicted of raping a 76-year-old woman and sentenced to 97 years in prison last July, Vincent Torres was granted a new trial by State Supreme Court Justices on Saturday.
The Supreme Court said that Torres should get a new trial because his wife was not able to sit in during jury selection for the first trial, in order to accomodate the large number of potential jurors. The news shocked the victim and her family over the weekend, as it's now been eight years since the incident took place.
The victim's daughter spoke to CNY Central over the phone on Sunday, saying, "right now, the family's a mess. We're re-living it, especially the victim. We're just re-living the whole thing over and over again. Eight years of pure hell on Earth, and this comes up again, here we go again."
In an email to CNY Central, Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick says the victim "of a vicious sexual assault will have to relive her nightmare in front of a new jury...my office intends to seek leave to the State's highest court, the NY Court of Appeals in an effort to overturn this ruling."
