Long-time Fenatrado truckers association head, Blas Peralta, has asked the Supreme Court of Justice to reverse his sentence from the Court of Appeal in the National District, which confirmed his conviction to 30 years in jail for the murder of the ex-rector of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD), Mateo Aquino Febrillet.
The appeal to the Supreme Court was made by lawyer Miguel Valerio Jiminian, representing Peralta and states that the Appeal Court committed serious violations of the legal rights of representation and due process for Peralta. Valerio Jiminian stressed that proper legal representation and due process is sacred under the Constitution. Valerio claimed the prosecution denied his client the opportunity to prepare a defense against the charges.
His lawyer, Miguel Valerio Jiminián, is arguing that his client was coerced during the legal proceedings and that the sentence should be reduced to two-years in jail and payment of RD$1 million to the relatives of the victim, according to Arts. 321 and 326 of the Dominican Penal Code. The legal recourse was submitted after the Appeals Court of the First Penal Hall of the National District ratified the 30-year jail sentence issued by the First Collegiate Court of the National District.
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El Nacional
Listin Diario
28 December 2017
