Judges Arlin Ventura, Leticia Martínez and Eveling Rodríguez of the Third Collegiate Court of the National District levied a 12 year jail sentence in Najayo Jail to the former director of the National Drug Control Agency, Vice Admiral Felix Alburquerque Comprés for voluntary homicide of communicator Manuel Taveras Duncan on 19 August 2022. The judges ordered Alburquerque Compres to pay the cost of the trial. The court did not order a monetary compensation for the family.
The news media again shared the surveillance video in which Alburquerque Comprés persecuted Taveras Duncan on Núnez de Caceres avenue for about 10 minutes, caught up with him, shot him, and then when he was on the ground, shot him again, leaving him dead on the pavement and going missing until the video circulated and provided the first evidence of the killing.
The family had sought the maximum penalty of 30 years. State prosecutors had asked for 20 years. The defense of Alburquerque Compres had sought one year in jail, arguing he had been provoked. The judges said they applied the rule of averaging the requests for time in jail.
The weapon used to kill the communicator was never presented in the trial. The weapon had not been assigned to Alburquerque Compres. The defense bar of Alburquerque sought to exclude the surveillance video as evidence of the intentional killing.
In his statements after the court read its judgment, Alburquerque Compres asked God and Taveras Duncan’s family to forgive him.
The family is expected to appeal. The widow, Arlene Guerra accused the judges of bending in favor of her husband’s killer because of the power and money he has. She protested the court did not allow the family to act in court as civil plaintiffs.
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20 July 2023