Supreme Court upholds life sentence for ex-Buenos Aires police officer convicted of double murder of federal agents
The top court unanimously rejected the former captain's defence's final appeal. The conviction for the murder of two PFA officers becomes final.
Supreme Court upholds life sentence for ex-officer who killed two federal police officers in the Greater Buenos Aires area
The National Supreme Court of Justice made final on Wednesday, 14 October the life sentence imposed on a former captain of the Buenos Aires Province Police who shot and killed two officers of the Argentine Federal Police (PFA) during a fight in a public street in Greater Buenos Aires. According to elbonaerense.news, the top court unanimously rejected the extraordinary appeal filed by the convicted man's defence, exhausting all available appeal instances in Argentine jurisdiction.
The sentence made final classifies the acts under the crime of aggravated homicide due to the use of a firearm and the status of the victims as members of a security force. The Court confirmed what had previously been decided by the Criminal Oral Court and the criminal cassation chambers of Buenos Aires Province.
The defence's argument and its rejection
The ex-captain's defence had attempted to reduce the maximum sentence by arguing alleged excesses of self-defence and questioning the aggravating classification of the double murder. The court ministers considered these arguments inadmissible and confirmed that the ex-officer's actions constituted a direct and disproportionate attack following a verbal altercation in a public street.
The incident that gave rise to the case occurred when the then Buenos Aires Police officer engaged in a violent verbal exchange with two PFA agents following a traffic incident in Greater Buenos Aires. During the dispute, the aggressor drew his regulation weapon and fired multiple shots at close range, causing the immediate death of both federal police officers, before being detained by authorities.
The parties in the case
The Supreme Court ruling involves three central actors in the case:
The condemned ex-captain from Buenos Aires remains held in a facility of the Buenos Aires Prison Service serving the life sentence, with no access to early release benefits.
The two PFA officers were shot when they were off duty during the dispute that broke out in a public street.
The plaintiffs and families of the victims celebrated the definitive closure of ordinary appeal proceedings, as did the leadership of the security forces, who had demanded a firm response to acts of armed violence.
Institutional and criminal precedent
The ruling establishes jurisprudence regarding the criminal responsibility of members of security forces when they use weapons outside the exercise of their functions. The decision makes clear that the use of armed violence in private disputes or traffic altercations does not contemplate any mitigating factors whatsoever.
In terms of criminal execution, the decision ensures that the condemned man serves the entirety of his custodial sentence in a maximum security facility in Buenos Aires Province.
With the ruling issued on Wednesday, the criminal case is entirely closed in Argentine jurisdiction, with no possibility of ordinary review before any court in the country.
Source: Google News AR — Buenos Aires