Last Wednesday, the restart of the trial for the crime of Valentino Blas Correas (17) and the subsequent police cover-up, which occurred on August 6, 2020, showed a strange situation. That day, four people’s jurors that make up the court did not attend: three presented medical certificates for different physical ailments and the rest for a job promotion that will require more hours at work and will prevent him from continuing.
The president of the 8th Crime Chamber, Marcelo Jaime, and the members Manuel Ugarte and Mario Centeno, summoned those present to the room and announced the impossibility of holding the hearing for that reason.
When they joined the court, due to the length of the trial they decided to add 12 substitutes to the eight starters, that is, four more than usual. Of those 20, 14 remain. Everyone attends each day because if a headline is downloaded, he must have a replacement with full knowledge of what was spoken at the hearing. More resignations or the loss of the proportion between men and women, might bring down the trial.
Therefore, what happened on Wednesday hastened the end of the debate. Prosecutors Fernando López Villagra and Marcelo Hidalgo worked throughout the month of January. They prepared the final conclusions and found new facts to attribute to those who are sitting on the bench today, in addition to other possible crimes that will pierce the ceiling of criminal responsibilities reached in this trial: inside and, possibly, outside the Córdoba Police. That extension of accusation, that they intended to specify in this trial for the accused police officers, it will not be possible. It will remain for a future process.
Since the process began, there were defenders who questioned the position of the prosecutors since they warned that “they wanted to make another trial within this trial.” If the claim is true, it was aborted.
Friday Timeline. As soon as the debate began, all the parties announced that they declined the requested testimonies and asked that the remaining evidence be included. Civil actors seeking compensation for damages announced that they will present their claims in writing. That will save at least two days.
After these demonstrations, Hidalgo submitted a brief to the court with a list of “specifications” and possible “new or different facts” in relation to the accused police officers. He generated the reaction of all the defenders. They opposed the judges considering the document and several asked for its rejection in limine.
A fourth intermission was held and during that period the prosecutors met with the lawyers for the three private complaints and with Soledad Laciar and Blas Correas, mother and father of the murdered young man. Upon returning to the courtroom, the prosecution stated that declined to aggravate the legal qualification to all the accused police officers for whom, in the pleadings, he will seek convictions for the original accusation.
In this process, Lucas Damián Gómez (35) and Javier Catriel Alarcón (31) are accused of murder with direct, qualified and aggravated intent, for the crime of Blas, and of attempting the same crime with identical qualifications in relation to the other four young people who were in the Fiat Argo that was hit by bullets.
In addition, there are 11 troops of different ranks who are being tried, some for “concealment for personal favor aggravated by the functional quality and the seriousness of the preceding act” (the homicide), and others for false testimony. They are: Wanda Micaela Esquivel, Yamila Florencia Martínez, Alejandro González, Leonardo Martínez, Rodrigo Toloza, Enzo Gustavo Quiroga, Leandro Alexis Quevedo, Ezequiel Agustín Vélez, Eduardo Soria, Jorge Ariel Galleguillo and Antonio Gatica.
Court case studies show that very rarely – practically never – the referral of criminal records following a trial succeeds.
The decision to expedite the debate placed the complaints in a difficult choice: expand the accusation now or postpone it for another process. The second option was chosen. Including new facts in this instance would mean extending the process for at least one or two more months. To reduce the risk that their requests remain in a forgotten drawer, the prosecutors promise to describe them in great detail and the corresponding qualifications, identifying those responsible. The complainants assure that they will not lose track of them. Time will tell the rest.
WHAT’S LEFT
◆ The Prosecutor’s Office expressly requested that telephone sheets be included, which will remain as evidence for the future.
◆ The new investigations for the current defendants would be for possible ideological falsehoods and embezzlement of public funds.
◆ Other facts remain regarding more criminal responsibilities: the gasoline tickets for the car that the former Secretary of Security, Lucas Mezzano, assigned to former Commissioner Gonzalo Cumplido. The possible abandonment of a person by the policemen who were in Corrientes and Chacabuco where the car in which Blas was dying was left. There is also evidence of false information that was communicated through police radio, public documents with irregular insertions in the 101 records.
ARGUMENTS AND UNDATED VERDICT
The trial will resume on Wednesday, February 22. The prosecutors will divide the arguments and will occupy a total of six hours. The case framed in institutional violence in the Police of Córdoba will be raised. On Friday the 24th it will be the turn of the three private complaints, on behalf of the victims: the lawyers Alejandro Pérez Moreno, Manuel Gutiérrez and Julio Herrera Martínez will present. The defense attorneys assisting the defendants may claim the Wednesday and Friday days of the first two weeks of March. If the conclusions are not extended, the verdict of the court might be known in the second half of March. At the moment there is no set date.
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