SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) -- With jury selection already underway for a Sierra LaMar murder case retrial, the accused killer's defense attorney asked a judge to drop charges and dismiss the case. Antolin Garcia-Torres' defense attorney, Alfonso Lopez, made the pre-trial motion Monday based on double jeopardy grounds. Lopez claims "new evidence was uncovered" exposing misconduct by prosecutors "intended to deny Mr. Garcia-Torres a right to an acquittal." LaMar, 15, vanished in her Morgan Hill neighborhood on March 16, 2012 when she missed her bus to Ann Sobrato High School. Her body was never found. Garcia-Torres, 35, was found guilty of murder in 2017 and sentenced to life in prison. This fall, he will stand trial for a second time in Santa Clara County because his previous convictions were overturned by a higher appeals court. This is the last photograph ever taken of Sierra LaMar. (Image via Santa Clara County Superior Court) Jury selection continued at the Hall of Justice courthouse in San Jose Tuesday. Several prospective jurors were released from the jury pool due to hardships. Attorneys filed a flurry of pre-trial motions for Superior Court Judge Brian Buckelew to making rulings over. Lopez unsuccessfully made a recent motion to remove Judge Buckelew from presiding over the retrial. Lopez accused Buckelew of harboring bias against Garcia-Torres because the judge previously worked as a prosecutor for the District Attorney's Office. The motion filed against Buckelew was denied by the court. Sierra LaMar In addition to Lopez's new double jeopardy motion, the defense team filed five more pre-trial motions on Monday. One is asking the court to throw out an interrogation of Garcia-Torres' by sergeants in April of 2012. The interrogation happened in a Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office substation after LaMar went missing and before Garcia-Torres was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and murdering her. The defense claims his Miranda rights were violated. "At the substation, the sergeants placed Mr. Garcia-Torres in an interview room and questioned him for approximately 50 minutes before advising him of his Miranda rights. The sergeants asked him about Sierra LaMar's disappearance," defense attorney Mishya Singh wrote in newly filed court documents. Prosecutors present motives in Sierra LaMar case One sergeant asked, "You know we have a lot of evidence, right?" Garcia-Torres replied by repeatedly telling the sergeants that his DNA would not be found connecting him to the missing girl, and he "told the sergeants several times that he did not know where Sierra LaMar was," Singh wrote. Photos of Sierra LaMar are attached to a lanyard. (File Photo / Aric Crabb/ Bay Area News Group) One sergeant asked, "I need to know everything you did on Friday, March 16." Garcia-Torres answered, "I went fishing. I left my house, like uh, maybe 7:10, 7:20. And got up there around 8. Along the road at Uvas or Calero or Chesbro. After that, cashed my check (at a bank), went to the gas station … then after that went home. I think it was like midday." LaMar’s school bus stop was located on Palm Avenue. A sergeant told Garcia-Torres that he left his house at 7:01 a.m. and his car turned onto Palm Avenue. The sergeant added, “That puts you right where everything happened at the right time. You understand that?" Antolin Garcia-Torres speaks to his attorney on June 29, 2026 in Santa Clara County Superior Court. (Pool Photo) The sergeants eventually read Garcia-Torres his Miranda rights with hopes that he would "tell them where Sierra LaMar was or lead them to her," Singh wrote in court documents. The defense claims Garcia-Torres' statements during the interrogation may not be introduced into evidence at trial unless prosecutors can prove that he made statements voluntarily and without violations of his Miranda rights. Defense attorneys are also trying to prevent prosecutors from using evidence collected from Garcia-Torres' red and black Volkswagen Jetta. Strands of LaMar's hair and traces of DNA were found in the trunk and passenger compartment of the Jetta, according to prosecutors. "These are the only traces of Sierra, other than her belongings, ever found since her disappearance," prosecutors wrote. Defense attorneys claim evidence collected from the Jetta may have been mishandled and contaminated by investigators in 2012. "The issues concerning the collection, handling, preservation, and chain of custody create a substantial danger of confusing issues (and) misleading the jury," Singh wrote. Sierra LaMar is seen in a school photo. (Image via Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office) Prosecutors described the disappearance of LaMar as a stranger kidnapping. "The defendant lived at the Maple Leaf RV Park on Monterey Road, a seven-mile near straight shot to Sierra’s house. The defendant’s then girlfriend … corroborated the defendant’s lack of any legitimate connection to Sierra or anyone that Sierra knew," prosecutors wrote. Judge Buckelew has not yet made a ruling for the defense's motions claiming double jeopardy, Jetta evidence contamination, and Miranda rights violation, court records show. Garcia-Torres has maintained his innocence while serving the past 14 years behind prison bars. ...read more read less