2023-11-06 08:15:00
Prosecutor Juan Pablo Escalada felt for the first time what it was like to be in the place of an accused. The thing is that Judge Sonia Martín subjected him to almost an investigation to find out the reasons for the arrest of Mauro Sepúlveda, accused of participating in the murder of merchant Franco Lagos Gacitua.
The homicide occurred on the night of October 25 when three skinny, tall, hooded men entered the butcher shop in the Costa Norte neighborhood. They stole money from him and shot him with a firearm in front of his family. AND They escaped in the taxi driven by Mauricio Díaz Sepúlveda, to whom the judge ordered preventive detention, but not before putting the three prosecutors in charge through an uncomfortable moment.
Sepúlveda was summoned as a witness the next day, at noon, at the headquarters of the Investigation Brigade. This was following information was obtained regarding the presence of the Renault Logan that he was driving in the sector where the crime occurred.
Around nine at night he went from witness to detainee and at 11:57 p.m. Prosecutor Escalada signed the order. Defender Rubén Antiguala, increasingly sharp, questioned that there was no written arrest warrant as required by the code of criminal procedures.
Judge Sonia Martín, one of the strictest in the entire forum, began to investigate. First, a strange exchange was noticed, increasingly common, between the public defender Sebastián Nolivo and the private lawyer Antiguala. Then the legal issue followed.
Is there a written order or is there no written order? the magistrate asked the deputy. “Yes, doctor of course,” Escalada assured. The official is the youngest in the constituency, he was sworn in exactly a year ago, and he has demonstrated solvency in the complicated cases in which he has had to intervene. But on Saturday he had to endure it.
What motivates this order? Martín asked.. In the danger of flight and in the testimonials, Escalada answered with nervous gestures and touching his ear. But is the order in the file or not? Martín asked. Prosecutor Pezzetta, in an attempt to save his deputy, spoke up. “Yes, signed by Escalada at 11:57 p.m.,” he responded.
Sonia Martín, who was an investigative judge and has a lot of experience, continued: “But they didn’t tell me that they arrested him at nine, like the order is at 11 p.m.and that it happened between twelve noon, the time he was summoned as a witness, and nine at night, was he illegally detained,” he insisted.
Almost as if it were a chain, Chief prosecutor Santiago Márquez Gauna sought to rescue Pezzetta. And he began to explain that the reasons were in Escalada’s head, who later lowered the idea to the decree and sought the digital signature. This time noor were his litigation arts sufficient.
The detention was illegal because if the defender intended to appeal it, he did not have the reasons in writing, Martín sentenced. With that, he left open the possibility for the accused to make a claim to the State for the deficient actions of the prosecutor’s office.
“I know your opinion, the same thing happened in Rebolledo (femicide of Agustina Atencio in Catriel), I am not going to contradict you, doctor,” Pezzetta managed to say. But the judge crossed it: “And they do know my criteria because they always continue doing the same thing, this is sloppiness,” she protested.
The prosecution, in its three representatives, was beaten. The hearing continued, Martín declared the charges formulated due to the classification of homicide to hide another crime (robbery) and issued preventive detention for hindering the investigation and danger of flight. The accused is the only one who knows so far who the perpetrators of the crime are. and with that information they might collaborate to divert (or channel) the investigation or leave without giving information.
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