Lawyer Arcadio Martínez sentenced to 72 months for concealing evidence at Barranquilla URI
The Superior Court of Barranquilla overturned an acquittal and sentenced criminal lawyer Arcadio Martínez Pumarejo to 72 months in prison and a fine of 1.750 billion pesos.
Barranquilla court condemns criminal lawyer for destroying evidence and offering bribe to CTI custodian
The Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of the Judicial District of Barranquilla sentenced in second instance lawyer Arcadio Tobías Martínez Pumarejo to 72 months in prison for concealment, alteration and destruction of material evidence, an offence classified under article 454B of the Penal Code. The decision, adopted unanimously under the rapporteurship of judge Jorge Eliécer Cabrera Jiménez, overturned the acquittal that had been issued in first instance by the 14th Criminal Court with Knowledge Functions of Barranquilla, according to infobae.com.
The facts: a BlackBerry hidden in the ceiling of the URI
The events occurred within the facilities of the Immediate Reaction Unit (URI) of the Prosecutor's Office in Barranquilla, where Martínez Pumarejo was detained whilst acting as defence counsel for Silvia Gette, former rector of the Autonomous University of the Caribbean who was under investigation for the murder of cattle rancher Fernando Cepeda.
According to the factual account presented by the Attorney General's Office, the defendant took advantage of a lapse in security to enter the bathroom of the premises and hide a BlackBerry telephone in the ceiling. In the process, he performed mechanical actions to fracture the device's chassis and break the SIM card, with the purpose of preventing the technical extraction of digital files and call records.
A CTI custodian caught him in the act. At that moment, Martínez offered 100 million pesos in cash to the official to allow him to completely destroy the evidence and not leave a record of the incident in the minute books.
The appeal that struck down the acquittal
The first instance court had acquitted Martínez Pumarejo on the grounds that the objective typicality of the offence was not established. The legal representation of the victim—undertaken by the firm of Abelardo de la Espriella through lawyer Natalie Arteta—and the Public Ministry filed an appeal.
The appellants argued that the initial court had erred in conditioning the existence of the article 454B offence to prior assessment or final significance of the evidence element, when the penal norm seeks to protect the physical integrity of any evidence susceptible to incorporation into a judicial proceeding.
The Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court upheld those arguments and declared the defendant liable, after verifying the existence of direct and circumstantial evidence demonstrating wilful intent and the establishment of the offence in the manipulation of the retained technological device.
Prison sentence, multimillion-pound fine and immediate arrest order
Along with the 72 months in prison in a correctional facility, the court imposed on Martínez Pumarejo a financial fine exceeding 1,000 monthly legal minimum wages in force, equivalent to 1,750,905,000 pesos. The Criminal Chamber also determined the inadmissibility of surrogates or benefits of home detention and ordered the immediate issuance of an arrest warrant to police authorities to enforce the deprivation of liberty.
A history linked to judicial scandals
Arcadio Tobías Martínez is not unknown to Colombian justice. In 2013 he was recorded and captured by the CTI when delivering 250 million pesos in La Picota prison to Édgar Ignacio Fierro, alias "Don Antonio", a former paramilitary chief, in order for him to change his testimony and exonerate Gette from the crime for which she was being investigated. Precisely because of that case—for which he was convicted of bribery in criminal proceedings—he was detained at the URI when he introduced the mobile device.
After serving his sentences in that process, the criminal lawyer reappeared in the public sphere by taking on legal representation of questioned regional figures, among them Samuel Santander Lopesierra, known as the "Marlboro Man", who was mentioned in the case against Nicolás Petro, son of former president Gustavo Petro. The Superior Court of Barranquilla's conviction adds a new chapter to a career marked by justice interventions to halt manoeuvres of interference in criminal proceedings.
Source: Google News CO — Crime