The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) confirmed the sentence of 30 years in prison for three defendants for committing the murder of a worker identified as Daniel Ramón Sandoval Castellanos (45), which occurred on June 17, 2022 in the El Nazareno sector of Petare, Sucre municipality (Miranda).
Such a decision appears in sentence 578 written by Judge Carmen Marisela Castro and validated by her colleagues from the Criminal Chamber, Elsa Gómez and Maikel Moreno.
The murder of Daniel Sandoval was planned by Meis Villalobos Ortiz (42), a former Polibaruta agent, and Edwin Daniel Fernández Hurtado (42), nicknamed Peluche. At the trial it was proven that the motive for said crime was “an animosity towards the victim on the part of Meis.” However, as Meis and Edwin were their neighbors, in order not to raise suspicions they recruited Diógenes Iván Montes Romero (34), alias Guajiro, Yonathan Jesús Ojeda Quevedo (31) and Ronald Rafael Torragosa Ávila (32).
On the day of the crime, Daniel Sandoval left for work, when he was intercepted by Meis, Diógenes and Yonathan; the latter shot him. A relative of the victim helped him, but he was also injured by the criminals, who fled. The injured were taken to a health center, where Daniel died, according to the investigation.
The five subjects were captured by the Cicpc and prosecuted between 3/9/2023 and 4/10/2024, before the 22nd Trial Court of Caracas.
Said instance declared Meis Villalobos and Edwin Fernández guilty as intellectual authors of the crime; while, as material authors, the responsibility of Diógenes Montes and Yonathan Ojeda was determined. The four were sentenced to 30 years in prison. As for Ronald Torregrosa, he was acquitted as no elements were found that linked him to the murder.
Lawyers Michael Agro Garmendia and Ricardo Vargas, public defenders of Edwin Fernández, challenged the sentence imposed. The same measure was adopted by María Eugenia Álvarez and José Luis Albizu, public defenders assigned to legally assist the other three convicts: Meis Villalobos, Diógenes Montes and Yonathan Ojeda.
These appeals were declared inadmissible on March 6 by the Court of Appeals of Caracas, whose judges ratified the sentence imposed on Fernández, Villalobos, Montes and Ojeda.
By virtue of this, they appealed to the Criminal Chamber of the TSJ to request the annulment of the conviction. However, before resolving the request, the magistrates exercised the power conferred on them by the Organic Code of Criminal Procedure to review the trial in its entirety ex officio. After that, they concluded that the criminal process that led to the conviction of Villalobos, Montes and Ojeda “conformed to what was established in the Constitution.” Therefore, they maintained the maximum sentence.
Even so, they ordered Edwin Fernández’s trial to be repeated, since the court that tried him did not determine, “not even in a concise manner,” what this defendant’s participation was in the murder of Daniel Sandoval.
