A judge has denied a motion filed by Karla Garcia, the mother of the woman charged in the death of her 11-year-old daughter, Mimi Torres-Garcia, which sought to move the case from Litchfield to Hartford.
Mimi’s body was found in a tote outside 80 Clark St. in New Britain on Oct. 8. Police believe she had been dead for about a year. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that she was severely malnourished and ruled her cause of death as fatal child abuse with starvation and her manner of death as homicide.
She weighed only 26 to 27 pounds, according to police. Investigators believe Mimi died while the family was living in Farmington and that her body was left in the basement before it was later moved to New Britain.
In late September, Garcia filed a motion to transfer the case from Litchfield to Hartford. Her attorney argued the case should be heard in Hartford because Mimi is believed to have died in Farmington in 2024, when the town was still part of the Hartford Judicial District.
A legislative change moved Farmington to the Litchfield Judicial District after Oct. 1, 2025.
Her attorney also argued that a jury pool in Hartford would be more representative. Garcia, who is Hispanic, would be confronted by a jury pool with just over 16% non-white residents in Litchfield JD, versus over 45% in Hartford JD.
In a decision dated Wednesday, Oct. 21, the court ruled that Garcia’s case would remain in Litchfield, rejecting Garcia’s attorney’s arguments.
Read the full motion below:
The denial said that Garcia did not demonstrate that keeping the case in Litchfield would result in unfair prejudice or prevent her from receiving a fair trial.
Garcia faces several charges, including murder with special circumstances, in connection with her daughter’s death.
Her former boyfriend, Jonatan Nanita, and her sister, Jackelyn Garcia, are also charged in the case.
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