The Hispanic-American’s lawyer claims that when he was sentenced in 2019, the DNA chain of custody was broken and witnesses were pressured, but the Florida prosecutor’s office is asking for his sentence to be upheld
Pablo Ibar’s attorney Joe Nascimento questioned this Tuesday before the Court of Appeals for Florida’s 4th Judicial District, located in West Palm Beach, the value of the evidence used in the latest trial that sentenced his client to life in prison . imprisonment, given that they are not “fixed” to enforce the sentence. However, the Public Prosecution Service opposed these arguments and requested confirmation of the sentence imposed in 2019.
The defense of the Hispanic American citizen therefore asked the three magistrates of the court to annul the verdict of more than three years ago and to hold a new trial with “all legal guarantees”. Ibar is currently serving life in prison after being found guilty of a triple murder in the United States, the authorship of which he has always denied.
The hearing began at 2 p.m. local time in the US state of Florida (8 p.m. in Spain) and was conducted via video conference. Ibar’s defense supported his request for the sentence to be annulled on twelve grounds, among which he highlighted the irregularities committed during the trial that ended with Ibar’s conviction, as well as the decisions of “absolute bias” in which Judge Dennis Bailey, who was the hearing led.
Among these twelve reasons cited, the lawyer questioned the existence of a “small” DNA sample from Pablo Ibar in a T-shirt found at the scene of the events and worn by one of the perpetrators of the crime. crime. The Public Prosecution Service took it “unexpectedly” before the start of the final trial.
Up to that point, all analyzes performed were negative with respect to any remains linked to his sponsor. In this regard, Nascimento criticized that the chain of custody of this apparent evidence was “deeply flawed” and that the analysis lab had received the shirt in a bag with the seal partially open.
Similarly, the attorney for the chamber questioned the veracity of the testimony of a resident of the area where the crimes were committed named Gary Foy, who was key to the prosecution after stating that he had Ibar in the passenger seat Casimir see sit. Sucharski’s Mercedes car. As he complained during his court appearance, it was the police officers who led the witness through a photo to a “substantial chance of misidentification”, for which reason he has considered it “unreliable” evidence.
Ibar’s attorney also referred to the actions of Judge Dennis Bailey, who presided over the final Broward County trial, whom he charged with “misuse of his discretion.” In this sense, he criticized the judge for removing one of his members from the jury, who denounced having been under pressure from his colleagues, a fact he made public on social networks. “I should have at least investigated whether there was actual abuse or pressure or if it was just the normal vehemence of a jury deliberation,” he said Wednesday.
Subsequently, the representative of the prosecutor’s office, Deborah Koenig, took the floor, insisting that the legal process was “at all times” adapted to legality. Likewise, he argued that in the case of the barred jury, the judge had made the right decision and that the courts should not interfere in the internal discussions between the members of a jury.
Following the appeal hearing, a period of deliberation will now begin between the members of the court. A phase that can take several months and it is possible that the verdict will take a year. In the event that the appeal fails in this case, the defense will go to the Florida Supreme Court.
Ibar was recently transferred from the prison in Okeechobee, Florida, where he had been since his death sentence was commuted to life, to another private facility. In the latter place he develops various activities and has started a welder training.
Pablo Ibar was found guilty of the triple crime that in June 1994 ended the lives of Casimir Sucharski, owner of a nightclub and owner of the chalet where the crimes were committed, and of the young Sharon Anderson and Marie Rogers. The three were killed by two persons who broke into the house.
The sequence of events was captured by a video camera in the living room of the house that at one point captured the face of a young man with Latino features that police identified as Pablo Ibar. However, during the last trial in 2018-2019, it was proven, even by prosecution experts, that this video was not of sufficient image quality to make any identification.
Source: La Verdad
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