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Lucía Pérez: they announce the verdict in the second trial of the two accused of raping and killing the young woman

2023-03-23T09:53:43.217Z


For the family of the 16-year-old girl and the prosecutor's office, the case was sexual abuse followed by femicide. The defense of Matías Farías (29) and Juan Pablo Offidani (48) calls for acquittal.


With

the same evidence collected in the first trial

and almost the same testimonies (after almost seven years some witnesses remembered very little), arguments and sentence requests totally opposed to each other (from acquittal to life imprisonment), the Oral Court in Criminal No. 2 of Mar del Plata will fail this Thursday in the second trial for the death of

Lucía Pérez

(16).  

The readings of the facts that the defenses of the accused

Matías Farías (29) and Juan Pablo Offidani (48)

and those offered by the accusers, the prosecutor and the complaint did not vary in relation to the first debate, which was annulled by the Chamber of Cassation. Penal. 

The ruling comes after the Court of Mar del Plata rejected the request for nullity of the trial that the defenses had made after the support that President Alberto Fernández gave to the parents of Lucía Pérez. 

Laura Solari, the official defender of Farías, the main defendant, had asked that the debate be declared null and void and that, in addition, the recusal of the magistrates be allowed, that is, that they move away from continuing to understand the case.

The defender César Sivo, who represents Offidani, had joined the proposal.

The house of Matías Farías where Lucía Pérez stayed before her death.

In the second trial, Justice made a new visual inspection.

Photo Telam

But the judges Gustavo Fissore, Alexis Simaz and Roberto Falcone rejected both proposals, understanding that the request for annulment of the process "cannot prosper", while they raised the proceedings for review in the Chamber of Appeals and Guarantees.

The judicial incident forced them to reschedule the date of the verdict and sentence, which was to be known on Friday the 17th;

They postponed it for this Thursday at 2:30 p.m. 

On Women's Day, after leading the inauguration ceremonies in Mar del Plata, Alberto Fernández received Marta Montero and Guillermo Pérez, the teenager's parents, at the Chapadmalal presidential residence.

That afternoon,

the president affirmed that he was dealing with a femicide

-a crime that is the subject of discussion in the trial-, that "impunity will not be allowed" and that the family had "the strength and presence of the Executive Branch in this new judgment.

He tweeted photos with the parents, all three holding white bibs with the victim's image on them.

"Lucía, we swear to win for you," reads them.

President Alberto Fernández with the parents of Lucía Pérez.

Photo Twitter

Solari understands that the president's "crude interference" would affect the impartiality of the magistrates.

But in their resolution, the judges said that the annulment of the second trial should not be issued "because in reality the violation of the forms of a procedural act held during this trial has not been denounced, but different actions carried out by different actors outside the trial are being disputed." criminal process”.

"Although the statements of the President of the Nation could imply an undue interference in the administration of Justice, by exceeding its powers and invading those of the Judiciary, the truth is that they are not revealed as suitable to affect impartiality," they said.

Lucía Pérez: how the Court could fail

On the afternoon of this judge, when the Courts of Almirante Brown and Arenales de Mar del Plata are protected with fences in their surroundings (the presence of multiple organizations that fight against gender violence and femicides in the country is expected) the Court He will let you know what he resolved.

If the death of the adolescent occurred in the context of a femicide

, as the prosecutor Leandro Arévalo and the lawyers for the complaint, Victoria Heredia and Florencia Piermarini, argued, or

if it was the tragic outcome of a moment in which both "had decided to have a good time together"

, since -Solari argued- "Lucía's non-consent cannot be presumed, because that would imply denying her sexual freedom simply and simply".

Farías and Offidani are accused of raping and killing Lucía.

The investigation of the case revealed that Farías and Offidani had met Lucía Pérez on Friday, October 7, 2016, by selling her marijuana outside Middle School No. 3. This was followed by an exchange of messages that resulted in the following day, the Saturday the 8th, they will pick her up in Offidani's truck, the same one they used to sell drugs, to go to Farías' house.

Since the beginning of the debate, the accusing parties maintain that Farías carried out the

sexual abuse there after the supply of drugs

-cocaine-, which caused a "toxic suffocation" that caused the death of the adolescent in the midst of a situation of vulnerability.

For the defenses, it was, instead, "consensual sexual relations."

In the allegations, prosecutor Leandro Arévalo

requested a life sentence for Farías for considering him the author and 20 years for Offidani as a secondary participant

.

The lawyers for Lucía's family requested

a life sentence for both of them

, understanding that Offidani was a necessary and not a secondary participant.

The defenses in charge of Solari and Sivo required the

acquittal of both

, understanding that there was no crime in the death of the adolescent.

Guillermo Pérez, father of the adolescent, during the second oral trial.

The first trial, held in November 2018, had convictions for the two defendants but not for the sexual abuse followed by death of which they were accused, a crime for which they were acquitted.

Instead, the Court sentenced them both for selling drugs near a school to 8 years in prison.

Both are in jail.

But following appeals, Criminal Cassation annulled the trial.

The fourth chamber ordered it so in August 2020, and ordered that a new oral trial be held.

Chamber members Mario Kohan, Carlos Natiello and Fernando Mancini considered that the ruling of the first court "was based on intolerable

prejudices and assumptions based on gender stereotypes

."

The Supreme Court upheld the decision.

Marta Montero, Lucia's mother.

Judges Esteban Viñas and Facundo Gómez Urso, who had handed down the first sentence, will be subjected to a political trial by the Buenos Aires Jury for the Trial of Magistrates and Officials.

They are charged with "negligence, breach of duty and manifest bias."

They are suspended.

The second debate was held from February 7.

With great expectation, the decision of the new Court is awaited, which will be read from 2:30 p.m. and can be followed live from the Youtube channel of the Buenos Aires Supreme Court.

Silver Sea.

Correspondent

MG​


look also

Controversy over a photo of Alberto Fernández: they ask for the annulment of the trial by Lucía Pérez

Marcelo Corazza case: who is the accused leader of the gang accused of recruiting and offering boys to abuse them

Source: clarin

All news articles on 2023-03-23

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