The Supreme Court has established that reviewable permanent prison can be applied to child murderers without the perpetrator being sentenced twice for the same act. In a plenary session held this Tuesday, the Criminal Chamber of the High Court has considered that there is no incompatibility with the fact of sentencing a man for murder with treachery of a minor and, in addition, to a reviewable permanent prison sentence.
According to legal sources, the Second Chamber thus consolidates its jurisprudence that makes the reviewable permanent prison compatible with the treacherous death of a child and, therefore, the appeal filed by the private prosecution, to which the Public Prosecutor had adhered, is upheld. against the judgment of the Superior Court of Justice of Valencia.
The specific case resolved refers to the murder of a 2-year-old baby in Elche (Alicante) for which his stepfather, as the perpetrator, and his mother were convicted by omission. Due to the fact that in recent years there have been several judgments appealed in cassation on this issue, five magistrates promoted that the issue be referred to plenary session so that all the magistrates had the opportunity to rule on the matter.
Eleven magistrates voted in favor and judges Leopoldo Puente, Antonio del Moral, Andrés Martínez Arrieta and Andrés Palomo voted against. The rapporteur of the sentence is the progressive magistrate Susana Polo.
The Court of Alicante sentenced the couple accused of murdering the child, son of the accused, to permanent reviewable prison.
Both the minor’s mother and his partner were convicted of a crime of murder aggravated by kinship and a crime of habitual abuse aggravated by treachery.
But the TSJ of Valencia revoked this “extreme” sentence and replaced the permanent prison with 23 years in prison for each of those convicted: 20 for murder and three for habitual ill-treatment.
This court argued that although the convicted abused the child and were aware of the danger, they took him to the hospital when they realized the seriousness of little Aaron’s condition.
In this way, it is appreciated -according to this court- the mitigation of compensation for the damage and that a measure of an “exceptional” nature and of a “special gravity” such as permanent prison cannot be imposed, a criterion that the Supreme Court now amends, reports Eph.
On the other hand, the plenary session of the Second Chamber has agreed by a majority of 11 to 5 votes to dismiss the appeal of the Prosecutor’s Office and, consequently, confirm the acquittal of CDR Tamara Carrasco, who was accused of a crime of incitement to public disorder .
The initial speaker of the sentence, Judge Ángel Hurtado, has remained in the minority and will cast a private vote, according to legal sources. Judge Javier Hernández will assume the new position.
The magistrates who have voted against and who have remained in the minority have been the president of the Chamber, Manuel Marchena, Antonio del Moral, Julián Sánchez Melgar, Pablo Llarena and Vicente Magro. All of them considered that the proven facts of the first instance sentence include a typical act of incitement to hatred and, therefore, they believe that the High Court should have upheld the prosecutor’s claims and nullified the sentence. The resolution will include private votes.
Conforms to The Trust Project criteria
