News talk shows and social media are analyzing the dissident vote of judges Miriam Brito and Juan Hiroito Reyes in the Supreme Court of Justice revision of the First Collegiate Court of the National District sentence for 30 years in jail to Blas Peralta, the former kingpin of the nation’s leading truckers’ association, Fenatrado. The judges say the ruling should have been for a homicide and not murder (homicidio vs. asesinato). The Supreme Court confirmed the sentence of 30 years, the maximum sentence in the Dominican Republic, and cash compensation to Aquino’s three children and his wife in the amount of RD$31 million.
Peralta’s lawyers say they will appeal the verdict to the Constitutional Court. Peralta attorneys are seeking a reduction of the 30-year sentence to, at most, 20 years, which is the maximum penalty applied for homicide in the country. The Peralta defense denies there was premeditation in the case of the murder of the former UASD rector, Mateo Aquino Febrillet and describes the incident as an unfortunate ending of a row between two people. Another man in the same vehicle was the intended target of Peralta. This person escaped uninjured.
The defense of Peralta argues that it was never the intention of their client to kill Aquino Febrillet. The shots fired did injure Aquino Febrillet’s secretary.
Lawyer José Parra Báez, for the Aquino family, says that during the trial it was proved there was premeditation that turns the killing from a homicide into a murder case.
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El Nacional
22 October 2018
