Parents of Donally Martinez They rejected the 15-year prison sentence imposed this Thursday on the murderer of their son, the National Police corporal, Alejandro Castro Cruzfor which reason they will file an appeal.
Anthony Martinezthe boy’s father, considered that the sentence issued by the First Collegiate Court of Santiago is not prudent and does not send a clear message to the uniformed officers who, according to him, continue to harm citizens on the streets of the country.
“That is not a prudent sentence, because that is not even going to be a message to the police officers who continue to cause harm on the streets. It is not going to set a precedent, as we had hoped. We are going to appeal,” Anthony said.
Continuous: “There are days when you would like to be at the table with your son; in my house we often eat dinner with tears in our eyes.”
For its part, Maridania TejadaDonally’s mother said: “As a mother I don’t agree. However, I know that we achieved a lot, because We are fighting against a very strong systemand we got that sentence because God was always with us.
Meanwhile, the family’s lawyer said that during the hearing they presented evidence to the court showing that the police officer planned and organized the crime that occurred during the celebration of the Santiago carnival in February 2023, which justifies a sentence of 30 years in prison.
“As lawyers, we respect the decision, but we do not agree. All the elements that we presented, the witnesses, the documentary evidence, the expert evidence, the videos, determined that he committed a murder. First he takes the horn, then he comes back with the gun in his hands and shoots Anthonis, a few minutes passed. Then, he thought, he organized, and therefore we say that there is a murder here and that should have been sentenced to 30 years in prison“, said the jurist.
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The judges of the First Collegiate Court of Santiago determined that the agent “did not commit the act in the exercise of the duty conferred upon him by the institution of law enforcement,” but rather, that he 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 It 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, would have occurred in a setting 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 wisdom that he could not take out and manipulate a weapon in those circumstances because that action caused a fatal event,” The court, made up of judges Juan Carlos Colon, Claribel Mateo and Yasmin de los Santos, reflected.
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.
Continue reading:
Burial of Donaly Martínez, killed by a police officer in Santiago
Video: This is how Donaly Martínez was killed during the Santiago carnival
