The First Collegiate Court of Santiago sentenced the man to 15 years in prison after the National PoliceAlejandro Castro Cruz, for the death of the child Donald Martinez during the celebration of the Santiago carnival, in February 2023.
According to the judge, the agent “did not commit the act in the exercise of the duty conferred upon him by the law enforcement institution,” but rather violated the protocols required by the agency to safeguard the lives of citizens, an assertion raised by the Santiago Prosecutor’s Office in its indictment.
The debate during the hearing on the merits, which lasted for more than 4 hours before the court retired to deliberate, was led, on behalf of the prosecuting body, by the trial prosecutor Pedro Martínez, who, based on multiple expert, material and testimonial evidence, proposed to the court the relevance of imposing a prison sentence.
The Santiago Prosecutor’s Office destroyed the presumption of innocence of the accused, whose defense promoted the theory of the legal excuse of provocation, elements that the investigating body rejected by imposing the criterion that the provocation, moreover, had occurred in a scenario without interruptions.
The sentence is imposed in accordance with the legal qualification established in articles 186, 295, 304 and 309 of the Dominican Penal Code, which typify and establish sanctions against the Abuse of authority against individuals, beatings and injuriesas well as voluntary homicide.
“The accused must have known through his wisdom that he could not take out and manipulate a weapon in those circumstances because that action led to a fatal event,” reflected the court, composed of judges Juan Carlos Colón, Claribel Mateo and Yasmín de los Santos.
The court indicated that the defendant acted with the intention of taking the life of citizen Anthony Martínez, hitting his son, Donally, 11 years old, with the shot.
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Burial of Donaly Martínez, killed by a police officer in Santiago
Video: This is how Donaly Martínez was killed during the Santiago carnival
