Willy de Jesus Nunez Mejia, the sentencing judge for San Cristobal, has rejected a parole request from Sobeida Felix Morel, who was sentenced to five years in jail for her involvement in the drug trafficking network headed by her former lover, Puerto Rican Jose Figueroa Agosto.
El Dia quotes Felix as saying that she was not surprised because the decision had already been reported in a digital newspaper in the early hours of yesterday morning, Wednesday 16 January before the hearing, and her lawyer Felix Portes said that he would lodge an appeal immediately.
Felix, who was a key witness in the case against Figueroa Agosto, is claiming that she made an agreement with then National District prosecutor Alejandro Moscoso Segarra, that when the time was right they would not oppose parole.
Judge Nunez Mejia claimed that when her guarantor, her cousin Roberto Garcia Martinez, was asked where she would live and work, he only answered briefly and somewhat unconvincingly, saying that he could buy her an apartment or she could live in his house, and he could make her his assistant on RD$20,000 a month. The judge also said their relationship was somewhat tenuous.
Another factor that led to the denial of her request was the fact that the agreement she made with the prosecutor was not signed by the Attorney General, Radhames Jimenez Pena, but by another Prosecutor, who had no links with the Prosecutor’s office in San Cristobal or with the Attorney General’s office with which she should have made the agreement.
He did confirm, however, that she had completed some of the requirements for parole such as good conduct, had completed half of her sentence and done some courses, as well as participating in several prison activities.
Finally he said that he did not believe she had yet paid her debt to society, as reported in Listin Diario.