Prosecutor: Torres Paid Man For Ride After Killings

5:35pm
Court has adjourned for the day in the Torres trial.
Testimony will resume at 9am tomorrow.

2:25 p.m.
The state continues presenting its side of the case in the death penalty trial of Tony Torres this afternoon.

Jurors are now watching surveillance video of Torres inside a convenience store moments after prosecutors say he crashed the Emerys' stolen van.

They just heard testimony from Henry Richardson who was also inside the store in Buffalo, SC. Richardson testified that Torres approached him inside the store and asked him for a ride to Spartanburg Regional Medical Center "because he said his wife was having a baby". He says Torres offered him $100 for a ride, and he agreed. He says Torres slept most of the way to Spartanburg. He says when Torres got out of his car, he handed him back the $100 and told him, "you'll need this more than I do since you're having a baby".

Prosecutors say Richardson had no idea Torres had just killed Ray and Ann Emery with a hammer, sexually assaulted Ann, and stole their van.

The defense pointed out that neither Richardson nor other witnesses saw any blood on Torres' clothes.

Opening arguments began Friday morning in the trial of a man accused of killing his friend's parent with a hammer.

On May 11, 2007 Ray and Ann Emery were found murdered inside their Drayton home. Investigators say earlier that day Torres got into a fight with the Emerys' son. They say Torres threatened to kill his family and then broke into the home to carry out the act.

The state is now presenting its evidence in the death penalty trial of Tony Torres.

During opening arguments, jurors heard a prosecutor describe the house of horrors deputies found when they went to the home of Ray and Ann Emery on May 11, 2007.
Assistant Solicitor Cindy Crick said there was "blood everywhere" in the Emerys' bedroom. Ray Emery was found in the bed, beaten to death while still wearing the oxygen mask he slept with. Ann Emery's body was on the floor beside the bed, her face "unrecognizable". Crick said Ann had also been sexually assaulted. A blood-covered hammer was found on top of the television.

Crick said deputies were led to the house after Torres crashed the Emerys' van in Union County. Witnesses report he climbed out of the van and tried to hitch a ride back to Spartanburg, offering drivers $100 for a ride. Crick said someone took him up on the offer and took him to his grandmother's house. She said Torres immediately put his bloody clothes and shoes in his grandma's washing machine. She said Torres was sitting on the couch when deputies arrived to question him. She said deputies removed the clothes from the washer and those clothes later tested positive as having the Emerys' blood on them. She says his shoes also matched the tread of bloody shoe prints found inside the Emerys' home on Montgomery Street. And Crick told the jury that a rape test peformed on Ann Emery uncovered DNA belonging to Torres.

Public defense attorney Kathleen Hodges, representing Torres, told the jury that the state's case is based on "circumstantial evidence". She pointed out that no one witnessed Torres go into the home. She said the state has no proof that the victims' blood was on Torres. She said the fact that he crashed a van in Union County does not mean he committed murders in Spartanburg. She concluded by saying, "Tony Torres was not guilty then and he is not guilty now unless you determine that the state has met its burden of proof."

Jurors are now hearing testimony from the two Spartanburg County deputies who first arrived at the Emerys' home and discovered the crime scene. Both men have testified that the first thing they noticed upon going into the house was a strong smell of gas. They saw puddles of gas in the floor and an empty gas can. They also noticed that all of the eyes of the stove were turned on high and the oven was turned on high. Then they found the bodies in the bedroom.

Stay logged onto wspa.com for further updates on this trial.