Torner convicted in Foster Township homicide

WILKES-BARRE — “You win some, you lose some. That’s what you get when you go for it,” Roberto Torner said after a Luzerne County jury Thursday found him guilty of the premeditated murder of his friend, Jose “Pepe” Herran, in 2015.

Torner, 50, faces life in prison when he is scheduled to be sentenced July 18.

The jury deliberated for more than seven hours convicting Torner of first-degree murder, criminal solicitation to commit homicide and criminal conspiracy to commit homicide following an eight day trial before Judge David W. Lupas.

A co-defendant in Herran’s homicide, David Alzugaray-Lugones, 54, is scheduled for trial in July.

Torner was convicted despite not having a body, autopsy reports or any forensic and trace evidence.

“It really is hard to put into words obviously not having a body is a huge complication right up front, a hurdle we have to overcome,” said Deputy District Attorney Daniel E. Zola who, along with Assistant District Attorney Drew McLaughlin, prosecuted.

“It requires an investigation beyond that which we would see in a homicide case. Luckily, we had a team here, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Weatherly Borough Police, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that were up to the challenge and did an outstanding job on the investigation as a whole. But no body certainly made it difficult,” Zola added.

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