2023-07-02 04:25:00
A few days ago, the trial for the death of Facundo Castillo concluded in Cipolletti, for which Ramiro Gutiérrez was sentenced to 12 years in prison for having run over him and taken his life at the end of a New Year’s party. The amount of the penalty was immediately the axis of the claim of the victim’s relatives, who wanted it to be considerably higher.
Nothing will alleviate the heartbreaking pain of the loss of Facundo, because of his youth, because of the unexpectedness of the event and because of the contempt for life that the “Gypsy” showed”. And although the amount of the penalty imposed by the technical judge Guillermo Merlo cannot be appealed by the accusers because it exceeds half of what was requested by the complaint, it is about the highest sentence that has been applied in the region for a death behind the wheel, and one of the highest that are registered in the country.
The explanation is that in this case it was possible to verify what in most cases of deaths in traffic “accidents” was not: the fraud, which the defendant intended to kill, had the means to do so and did so. And he also tried to do it with five other people.
The popular jury found him guilty and the range of sentences for the crime of simple homicide ranged from 8 to 25 years.. They applied him 12 years, taking into account some extenuating factors.
The family wanted the maximum possible sentence and immediately showed their disagreement, but it must be taken into account that they are the fewest who receive effective sentences, and in the best of cases they go to jail for a short time.
Most of those convicted of causing deaths in traffic “accidents” do not go to prison, since it is proven that they had no intention of killing: they did it negligently (wrongful homicide, see separately). The sentences end up being less than three years and therefore they serve the sentence outside of prison.
In recent years, this trend has been reversing.partly from the reform of the penal code for this type of crime that aggravates the punitive scale.
but still and everything the penalties do not end up being as forceful as the families of the victims, not even with aggravating factors such as alcohol or drug use.
In the country and in the region there were very serious cases, but most ended with light sentences, and almost all the murderers behind the wheel are free, because the convictions with casualties or because the sentences are not firm.
Then one may wonder if that reform was enough o It is necessary to revise the rules for judges to have more tools when evaluating the sentence for someone who causes death with a vehicle as a weapon.
So far, the highest sentence in Río Negro was the one applied in 2019 by Cipolletti judge Florencia Caruso to David Bastías: 10 years in prison for homicide with eventual intent for the death of Ricardo Francisco Di Clérico, andThe first ruling in the province that applied this legal figure to a road accident, which implies a more serious qualification than that of manslaughter. Paradoxically, he is serving his sentence at home.
Bastías had stolen a car in Cipolletti and then fled on Route 151. He drove on the shoulder at high speed, passed vehicles, collided with a Renault Sandero and invaded the opposite lane. He ended up colliding with the Ford Fiesta that Di Clérico was driving and caused his death.
From the time of conviction Your home is serving your sentence because they gave you the benefit of house arrest (He had been left with serious injuries that caused him a disability).
He only spent a few days behind bars in 2021 when he was arrested for violating the house arrest and for possession of weapons, but they immediately sent him home because they gave him a suspended prison sentence for those events and also because the previous sentence is not final.
The vehicle with which Codegoni ran over Pedro Leiva. Photo: Courtesy
In Neuquén last year there was also a conviction against a man for possible homicide. This is Sandro Gustavo Codegoni (sentenced to 8 years and six months in jail), who in a drunken state and with cocaine in his blood, ran over and killed Pedro Ariel Leiva (46) after a chase, in Intendente Carro and Pampa. Minutes before they had had a minor crash, the victim withdrew from the scene, but he chased him and ran over him, crushing him against the wall.
The 12-year sentence received by Ramiro Gutiérrez (who has been in pretrial detention for a year and a half) is not what the family expected, but judging by the precedents, it is the highest sentence recorded in the region. for similar cases. Although that is no consolation for such a loss either.
Other controversial cases of deaths behind the wheel in the region
In the list of controversial cases there are countless disagreements about the penalties.
In Bariloche, the last resonant event was the one that ended with the sentence of Matías Vázquez to five years in prison as the author of the crime of aggravated manslaughter for having escaped and for having a blood alcohol level of more than 1 gram per liter of blood when he ran over and caused the death of Lucas Caro. They also attributed reckless guilt as an aggravating factor.
According to the sentence, Vázquez was driving his Subaru vehicle drunk on the night of February 27, 2021. He was returning from a birthday party on Bustillo Avenue, and was returning to his home when he ran over the 17-year-old boy who died on the spot. Vázquez fled in his car and was only arrested the next morning when the police found him at his house.
In Roca, in 2018 the merchant Fernando Genoud also escaped from jail despite the fact that he was found to be driving drunk when he not only ran over and killed a man who was riding a bicycle on Route 22, but also took him several meters hanging on the box of his black Toyota and left it lying around. After acknowledging the facts and his responsibility, he benefited from the abbreviated trial and was sentenced for manslaughter to two years in prison plus a five-year disqualification from driving. The event had occurred almost two years earlier.
Also in Roca but in January 2017 Oscar De Piano, with 3.2 degrees of alcohol in his blood, ran over and killed Claudia Segura a few meters from the Bicentennial, when the woman was riding her motorcycle to work. He was sentenced to 5 and a half years in prison for aggravated manslaughter and served his sentence in jail. He is already free.
In the middle of last year An Appeal Court confirmed the sentence to 5 years in prison and 10 years of disqualification imposed on Aldo De Toffol for running over and killing police officer Evelyn Alarcón from Río Negro in April 2021 in Villa Regina, and then fled the scene without helping the victim.
Background at the national level
At the national level, one of the highest sentences is the one received by the journalist Eugenio Veppo: 9 in prison for having run over with his car and killed a traffic inspector and for injuring another in Buenos Aires in 2019. The Justice considered Veppo as the author of the crimes of “simple homicide and serious injuries with eventual intent” for the death of Cinthia Choque (28) and the injuries suffered by her partner Santiago Siciliano (32).
From then on, there are almost no cases of very high sentences. The review of the “injustices” quickly leads to the case of Jorge “La Hiena” Barrios. In 2010 the boxer, also drunk, ran over and killed a pregnant woman in Mar del Plata. He also fled the place. He received a sentence of three years and seven months for manslaughter.
Only in the middle of last year did the Justice confirm the sentence of three and a half imprisonment for Pablo García Aliverti, the son of the journalist Eduardo Aliverti. In February 2013, the young man ran over, killed and dragged Reinaldo Rodas on the hood of his car, who was riding a bicycle on the Pan-American Highway.
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