After the La Altagracia prosecutor ordered the arrest of teacher Jeisy Berenice Espinal, wife of the accused high school professor John Kelly Martinez, and the arrest of Frank Eligio Paniagua Pillier, state prosecutors confirmed on Wednesday, 1 March 2023 that these had been released and that the prosecution would not present charges against them.
31-year old Jeisy Berenice Espinal and Frank Eligio Paniagua Pillier had been arrested on charges of being accomplices in the death of student 16-year old Esmeralda Richiez Martinez because they hid evidence requested by the investigators (Public Prosecutors and Police). They were arrested for their involvement in the selling of the vehicle in which the teenager was abused. Paniagua Pillier was the buyer.
The vehicle had been requested by the authorities but was not turned into the authorities until several days after the crime.
John Kelly Martínez’s defense lawyer, Modesto Castillo, says that the wife could not be arrested because it was his defendant who had signed the sale of the Honda Accord vehicle.
The case is very confusing. Diario Libre reported that Jeisy Berenice Espinal, wife of John Kelly Martínez, also turned over to the investigators a 12 mm Maverick rifle registered to the name of her husband.
Diario Libre had reported that the vehicle was delivered to Paniagua Pillier by Jeisy Berenice Espinal who received a check for RD$500,000 of a RD$850,000 agreed sale. Paniagua Pillier would deliver the vehicle to the authorities.
35-year old John Kelly Martinez, math professor of Esmeralda Richiez, is under arrest in the case. His defense lawyer says his defendant can only be charged for sexual abuse and blames the parents for not taking actions to avoid the death. The sexual abuse would levy a two to five year sentence on the accused. The autopsy says the teenager died of hypovolemic shock due to violent sexual activity. As reported, the teenager bled to death.
Olga Diná Llaverias was sent by the Attorney General’s Office to lead the investigations. Somos Pueblo TV says that this is the same prosecutor that was much criticized for her handling of incriminating evidence in the cases of OMSA-Yuniol Ramirez and Carla Massiel, among others. The prosecutor was named and coincides with the request of John Kelly Martinez’s defense lawyer who had asked for a Santo Domingo prosecutor to handle the case.
Somos Pueblo TV’s El Piro (Eduardo Sánchez Tolentino) says there is a set up underway in the judicial treatment of the death of the teenager. Media reports say that John Kelly Martinez is kept separately from other prisoners charged with greater crimes.
Read more in Spanish:
Somos Pueblo TV
Somos Pueblo TV questions choice of Olga Dina Llaverias
Somos Pueblo TV
Somos Pueblo TV
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
N Digital
Hoy
El Caribe
Listin Diario
Francisco Tavarez
Jose Peguero
CDN
El Caribe
2 March 2023