Ana Julieth Velásquez, the stylist’s lawyer, spoke about what will happen now after the recording that was ignored in the trial against Jhonier Leal was revealed.
News Colombia
The case of Mauricio Leal’s death has become relevant again after Noticias Caracol released a confusing video where the stylist appears in his last moments of life showing the injuries to his chest and abdomen.
The video shows disturbing details of the scene where Mauricio Leal and his mother Marleny Hernández died in strange circumstances that have Jhonier Leal, brother and son, respectively, serving a sentence.
Due to the film material circulating on social networks raising more questions about the case, Ana Julieth Velásquez, Jhonier Leal’s lawyer, said that there was an alleged “lack of guarantees” for the omission of evidence in the trial: “There’s something strange here.”
The lawyer announced a move that they will make to file an extraordinary appeal for review, as a mechanism to try to reverse the ruling that sentenced Jhonier Leal to 55 years in prison for the double homicide of his brother and his mother, Marleny Hernández: “We must be careful with the legal path that will be taken.”
According to the Constitutional Court, the extraordinary appeal for review is a defense mechanism that was created to undo final judgments when there is knowledge of deficiencies that led the judge to issue a ruling contrary to law.
The court notes that it is sometimes necessary to invalidate a final judgment because, due to circumstances unknown at the time of the decision, or occurring after the decision, it is revealed that the decision was based on error, fraud or illegality: “This appeal, therefore, constitutes a necessary exception to the principle of res judicata, insofar as it seeks to restore material justice by annulling an illegitimate sentence and ordering the issuance of a new ruling in accordance with the legal system.”
“We are going to request the change of the deputy prosecutor, the deputy attorney for the case, and we hope that the new prosecutor in charge will provide the case with guarantees and do his job in a transparent manner.“said Jhonier Leal’s lawyer.
The defense added that after the evidence was revealed: “The authorities were informed of an alleged concealment of evidence by the public prosecutor who conducted the investigation.”
It should be remembered that prosecutor Mario Burgos, the same one who is handling the case of Nicolás Petro, was the representative of the prosecuting body in the case of the death of Mauricio Leal. Noticias Caracol tried to contact him to ask him to comment on the incident, but he refused to make any statements, as he said he was not authorized to do so.
“He is not aware of the existence of the video and that the case analyst assured him that he had not seen the video on Mauricio Leal’s cell phone.”the news report said about what Burgos told him.
Here are Ana Julieth Velásquez’s statements. Discretion is advised as the images may be sensitive:
#EXCLUSIVE | Noticias Caracol reveals the last video of Mauricio Leal before he died. It is a lost piece of evidence, until now, that was never known during the process that ended with the conviction of Jhonier Leal.
Expand >> https://t.co/lk3PWfKktw pic.twitter.com/y8PtsrLTqc
— Caracol News (@NoticiasCaracol) August 12, 2024
You may be interested in:
