The man accused of killing 4-year-old Lilly Garcia during a road rage incident in October 2015 is expected to take a plea deal Thursday morning, according to his attorneys.
The deal offered by prosecutors will see Tony Torrez plead to second degree murder, according to Torrez’s defense attorney Stephen Taylor. He will face a 16 year sentence.
Jury selection in Torrez’s trial on first-degree murder and lesser charges was scheduled to begin Thursday, with a lengthy trial slated to start Monday.
Taylor said that it still is possible Torrez will change his mind, though he said it was “highly likely” that Torrez will accept the deal. He is set to appear before Judge Charles Brown at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Taylor said.
If convicted of all the charges he originally faced, Torrez was looking at a mandatory 30-year life sentence plus 29 years.
Torrez previously rejected a deal in which he would have pleaded guilty or no contest to second-degree murder and three more charges. That deal called for a sentence between five and 25 years, Dimas said during a hearing Monday.