Supreme Court declares inexcusable judicial error by Caracas judge in property invasion case
The Supreme Court of Justice annulled proceedings of the 20th Control Court of Caracas and decreed the dismissal in favour of Mariela Alejandra Reyes Hernández.
Supreme Court assumes property invasion case in Baruta and annuls decisions of Caracas 20th Control Court
The Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), with rapporteur magistrate Luis Fernando Damiani Bustillos, declared inexcusable judicial error against judge Yolimar Duque Morales of the Twentieth Court of First Instance in Functions of Control of the Criminal Judicial Circuit of the Metropolitan Area of Caracas, according to accesoalajusticia.org based on case file No. 20° C-S-1027-23.
The case originated on 28 September 2023, when citizen Mariela Sobeida Hernández González, assisted by lawyer Juan Carlos Castro Villalobos (IPSA No. 68,615), filed a request for assumption of jurisdiction with the Court Secretariat concerning the case being processed in the aforementioned court. The proceedings involved three citizens—Betty Rodríguez de Quintero, Jhon Rafael Quintero Rodríguez and Mariela Alejandra Reyes Hernández—for the alleged commission of the crimes of invasion and criminal association, provided for in articles 471-A and 286 of the Penal Code.
The following day, by means of judgment No. 1375 of 29 September 2023, the Chamber declared itself competent, admitted the request and ordered the 20th Court to immediately remit the case file. On 2 October 2023, the president of the Criminal Judicial Circuit of the Metropolitan Area of Caracas complied with that order through Office No. 2830.
Request inadmissible, but serious matters in the file
Once the records were received, the Chamber ascertained that Mariela Sobeida Hernández González had no status as a party in the criminal proceedings, so it declared her request for assumption of jurisdiction inadmissible, in accordance with article 133.2 of the Organic Law of the Supreme Court of Justice.
Nevertheless, detailed review of the procedural actions revealed, according to the Chamber, irregularities of sufficient gravity to justify a pronouncement of its own motion on constitutional public order grounds.
Annulments decreed
The Chamber annulled two actions of the 20th Court:
- The formal charge of 8 August 2023 against Mariela Alejandra Reyes Hernández for the crime of invasion as defined in article 471-A of the Penal Code.
- The decision of 6 September 2023, issued by judge Yolimar Duque Morales, which granted an unnamed precautionary measure of restitution of property concerning apartment No. 6, located on the main avenue of Las Mercedes (between New York and Orinoco streets), Dautar Building, third floor, apartment PH-6, in the jurisdiction of Baruta municipality of Miranda state.
On the basis of these annulments, the Chamber decreed dismissal of the case in favour of Mariela Alejandra Reyes Hernández, in accordance with article 300, numeral 2 of the Organic Code of Criminal Procedure, with the criminal action against her extinguished.
Disciplinary and criminal consequences for the judge
The TSJ ordered that certified copies of the judgment be sent to various institutions, with specific instructions:
- To Attorney General Tarek William Saab, so that, within the scope of his powers, he initiates investigations into the alleged commission of punishable acts and disciplinary infractions.
- To the Public Ministry, the Judicial Commission, the General Inspectorate of Courts and the Caracas Bar Association, in order that, where appropriate, they adopt the corresponding criminal and disciplinary actions against judge Duque Morales.
Additionally, notice of the decision was ordered to be given to Mariela Sobeida Hernández González, to the provisional sixth prosecutor of the Public Ministry of the Judicial Circumscription of the Metropolitan Area of Caracas, Moisés Alejandro García Velásquez, and to judge Yolimar Duque Morales herself.
Procedural fraud and constitutional supremacy
In its considerations, the Chamber noted that every manifestation of authority of the Public Power must comply with the imperatives established in the fundamental norm, in accordance with the principle of constitutional interpretation. The review of the records revealed, according to the court, denunciations of such magnitude that they obliged intervention of its own motion, within the framework of what the Chamber itself characterised as possible procedural fraud.
The judgment forms part of the broader context reported by accesoalajusticia.org, which accounts for the 271 hearings held by the courts of the Criminal Judicial Circuit of Caracas in that period, during which the activity of the Criminal Chamber of the TSJ included this pronouncement of special relevance due to the declaration of inexcusable judicial error against a sitting judge.
Source: Google News VE — Caracas