Prosecution seeks gag order in Gabriela Pratts murder case in Aibonito
The defence of Elvia Cabrera seeks to dismiss charges in the homicide of Gabriela Nicole Pratts, aged 16. The Prosecution requests a gag order due to risk to the jury.
Legal battle intensifies in case of stabbing of teenager in Aibonito
According to univision.com, the Puerto Rico Department of Justice requested on Monday 8 December a gag order in the case against Elvia Cabrera, aged 40, accused along with her minor daughter Anthonieska Avilés of the murder of Gabriela Nicole Pratts, the teenager stabbed on 11 August in Aibonito, a day before turning 17.
Prosecutor Orlando Velázquez argued before the court that "the sole purpose" of the public statements made by defence attorney Mayra López Mulero is to influence potential jury members. He added that those expressions "pose a real and substantial risk of contaminating the possible selection of the jury, undermining the impartiality of the judicial process and cast doubt on the proper administration of justice and the rule of law".
The gag order request came days after López Mulero filed, on Friday 5 December, a petition to dismiss the charges against Cabrera. The attorney argued that during the preliminary hearing held on 23 October, the prosecution failed to prove the elements of the crime: intent, joint authorship, and use of a blade weapon by her client.
Judge Marielem Padilla had found cause for trial against Cabrera at that preliminary hearing on charges of first-degree murder and violation of the firearms law. Cabrera's daughter, represented by the Society for Legal Assistance, has not yet faced that process.
Upon leaving the courtroom after the hearing on 26 November, López Mulero told journalists that she found it striking "that the court is in such a hurry and in this case we are barely beginning to evaluate the evidence which is extensive, complex, scientific and requires a great deal of analysis". She also said that "there is an alternate reality that does not correspond to the truth and that the State insists on pushing a theory that does not accord with the evidence they have in the fiscal summary".
The defence attorney also stated that there are at least "two witnesses" who "do not want to testify", an assertion that prosecutor Velázquez and prosecutor Silda Rubio have denied. "The prosecutor lies to the country and you are going to find out", López Mulero said.
The attorney insisted that it is key to identify the first people who pointed to the six suspects in the crime—four minors and two adults aged 20—because, in her view, that information "completely eliminates Elvia (Cabrera) from this crime and the State knows it". She promised that "all of Aibonito knows it. And the country is going to find out, I assure you".
Prosecutor Velázquez rejected on 26 November the existence of exculpatory evidence, describing his counterpart's allegation as "highly irresponsible" and "unethical". "That is not true. She has known me for more than 30 years and I would be incapable of hiding anything from anyone", Velázquez said, adding that the attorney "is unaware that there are ethical rules that prohibit her from making this type of statement".
At the time of her arrest, Cabrera worked in two businesses in Aibonito. The case for the murder of Gabriela Nicole Pratts, stabbed a few hours before her seventeenth birthday, continues to be the subject of intense judicial and media scrutiny on the island.
Source: Google News PR — Crime