Attorneys for 5 Charged in Gruesome Torrez Murder Clash in Court Over DNA

SAN ANGELO, TX -- Attorneys for the five defendants charged with participating the gruesome and brutal murder of Eric Torrez went before District Judge Jay Weatherby Thursday afternoon in an historic hearing over the handling of DNA evidence in which they clashed with District Attorney John Best in what became a complex test of wills, rights, patience and the law.

The hearing was the first where all five defendants and their attorneys were supposed to be in the same courtroom before one judge to hash out how DNA evidence would be processed because there was simply not enough for each of the five defendants and prosecutors to have tested separately.  

Two of the defendants, Kristen Jennings and Angella Wray, waived their right to be at the hearing and were represented there by their attorneys.  Security was high as the other three defendants, David Navarro, Stephen Jennings and Garry Jennings were separated by jailers and Tom Green County Sheriff’s Deputies.  

In the three hour hearing Thursday afternoon, Best called David Young to the witness stand.  Young is the DNA Section Supervisor in the Lubbock Department of Public Safety Crime Lab. The Lubbock Crime Lab provides DNA testing for courts and law enforcement agencies in 76 West Texas counties.  Young was grilled by lawyers representing the five defendants about the agency’s policies and procedures for handling and testing evidence for DNA.

Judge Weatherby finally put a stop the the questioning.  

Weatherby told the attorneys that the essential question was that defense attorneys wanted their own experts to witness the DNA testing in the DPS lab which is against agency policy. All the defense attorneys argued that without their own expert witness to monitor the DPS lab testing the DNA evidence that their client’s  rights to due process would be violated.

Best argued correctly that his office by law could select the agency to perform DNA testing and that the DPS lab in Lubbock testing the evidence did not violate any of the defendants’ due process under the U.S. Constitution.  

At one point, Navarro’s lead attorney Jenny Henley asked Judge Weatherby to issue an order that whoever tested the evidence for DNA wear a body camera.  Jennings attorneys asked Weatherby to order the Texas DPS lab to allow their expert witnesses to monitor and observe all DNA testing in the DNA lab in Lubbock.  Young had already testified that monitors in the DPS state lab were not allowed by policy.

After three hours of listening to eight attorneys criticize the DPS Crime Lab a patient and fair Judge Weatherby forged a compromise between defense attorneys and prosecutors to put legal briefs in writing and submit them to the court by 5 p.m. on Dec. 21.  

According to court documents, David Navarro,43, is charged with capital murder and aggravated kidnapping.  He remains jailed on $500,000 bond. Navarro had appeared before 51st District Judge Barbara Walther but the Thursday pretrial was heard by 340th District Judge Jay Weatherby at Judge Walther’s request.  Navarro is represented by Henley and Evan Pierce Jones.

Stephen Lynn Jennings, 35, is also charged with capital murder in addition to tampering with physical evidence of a human corpse.  He was released from jail on $500,000 bond. Jennings court hearing was a request to stop DNA testing. Jennings is represented by lead counsel John Wright with the Regional Public Defenders for Capital Cases out of Lubbock.

Garry Lynn Jennings, 62, is charged with murder, aggravated kidnapping and tampering with physical evidence a human body.  He had a pretrial hearing before Judge Weatherby. Jennings’ other pretrial hearings had been held in front of 391st District Judge Brad Goodwin.  Jennings remains in jail in lieu of $500,000 bond. Jennings is represented by John Sutton.

Kristen Anne Jennings, 29, is charged with capital murder and aggravated kidnapping and remains in jail in lieu of $500,000 bond.  She is represented by Kirk Hawkins.

Angella Rebecca Wray, 34, is charged with aggravated kidnapping and engaging in organized crime for her role in Torrez’s murder.  Wray was released on $500,000 bond. Her jury trial is scheduled for Dec. 17. She is represented by Stephanie Goodman.

As we reported last July, Eric Torrez was contacted by Stephen Jennings to place a bid on a construction job. This bid, however, was just a ploy to eventually lure Torrez to a residence located at 7481 Duckworth Road in Tom Green County. Torrez was to travel outside of Taylor County, where he lived, for the bid. His absence would allow Kristen Jennings, wife to Stephen Jennings, and Garry Jennings, father of Stephen Jennings,  to travel to a residence in Taylor County for Kristen Jennings to gain physical possession over a female juvenile, the daughter of both Torrez and Kristen.

After taking Torrez to the residence on Duckworth Rd., court documents describe that Stephen Jennings got into a verbal and physical confrontation with Torrez. During the physical confrontation, Stephen Jennings gained possession of a firearm and shot and killed Torrez.

Garry Jennings told law enforcement that he had observed Torrez with a gunshot wound to the head and laying on the floor in the living area. He then admitted to cleaning up the scene with Stephen Jennings by mopping up a pool of blood and assisting in moving the body of the victim by physically taking hold of the socks that were on the feet of Torrez. Garry Jennings also admitted to helping Stephen Jennings physically move the human remains from the floor to the back door of the residence.

Two days later, a search warrant was executed of the Duckworth residence where blood spatter was located by Texas Ranger Nick Hanna and observed to be on the wall in the immediate area of where Garry Jennings had said he had observed the body of the victim.

Eight days later, on August 4, Torrez’s body was found in a rural area of Crockett County by Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office Deputies. Texas Ranger Nick Hanna observed at least one gunshot wound to the head.  Sheriff David Jones and Ranger Hanna were in the courtroom Thursday.

Capital murder is punishable by life in prison without parole or death.  Jury trial dates for have not been set for Navarro, Stephen Jennings, Kristen Jennings or Garry Jennings.