Judge Modesto Martínez Mejía of the Eighth Penal Chamber sentenced Police corporal Rafael Paredes to 15 years in prison and to pay RD$10 million to the mother of Father Jose Antonio Tineo. The police agent who mistook him for another person shot Father Tineo in his car, causing his death. The National Police sent Paredes and private Juan Bautista Caminero to arrest Jorge Roa Moquete. The Police suspect him of having murdered his wife in San Juan de la Maguana and being on the way to kill his 11-year-old son in Santo Domingo. Roa’s car was similar to Father Tineo’s. Roa was later found to have committed suicide. Father Tineo was found waiting in his car at dawn. Father Tineo had drive in from the interior and was waiting for his religious order’s offices to open when he was mistaken for the suspect and shot while still in his car by Paredes, as determined by the trial. The court released Bautista. This occurred 26 August 1998. The two were tried by a civilian court and not by a military court after pressures from the Catholic Church, the District Attorney’s office and the relatives of the priest. The trial started 27 June. The trial sets a precedent for Police brutality that for years has enjoyed much impunity in the DR. Judge Martinez urged that the police better choose and prepare its agents.
