SAN JUAN – Judge Rafael Villafañe Riera found no cause to open a trial against the five men accused of the murder in 50 of former boxer Héctor “Macho” Camacho, a highly publicized and controversial case in Puerto Rico from which another resolution was expected.
The Department of Justice of Puerto Rico itself expressed this Tuesday in a statement its opposition to the determination adopted by the judge despite of the evidence presented.
“We respectfully differ from your decision. We regret that today a family was left waiting for justice, in a system that is not infallible”, said the Secretary of Justice, Domingo Emanuelli.
The head of Justice assured that the agency’s prosecutors presented the court with the evidence required at this stage of the process.
The Evidence included the testimony of William Ojeda Ramos, a direct witness to the crime, who recounted how on 20 November 2012 The defendants met in the Brisas de Bayamón public residential complex -a municipality neighboring San Juan- to plan to kill Camacho and Adrián A. Mojica Moreno.
Emanuelli also indicated that Ojeda Ramos stated that one of the defendants confessed to the crime and that, despite this, Judge Villafañe Riera made the decision to end the case.
“The Public Ministry and the Police Bureau fulfilled their work, the product of hard investigative work and a true They had a vocation that did not allow them to give up for almost ten years”, highlighted the secretary.
For her part, the head of the prosecutors of Justice, Jessika Correa González, stated that the Public Ministry was prepared prove your case “according to the required standard of evidence”.
“We understand that all the elements necessary to determine cause for trial were proven and we reaffirm that the north of the Department is and always will be to do Justice. However, we respect the decision of the court in the exercise of its discretion”, he added.
On March 9, 2022, the Department of Justice presented 27 charges against the five accused of murdering Camacho and Mojica after an investigation led by the Organized Crime Division of the Department of Justice together with the Major Crimes Division of the Police Bureau.
Camacho, aged 50, was shot in the face while sitting in a car in front of a bar in Bayamón with Mojica, who had nine bags small pieces of cocaine in his pocket and a tenth that was open.
The former boxer was declared clinically brain dead, although he remained on life support at the Río Piedras Medical Center (San Juan) for several days while relatives debated what to do and sympathizers held a vigil outside the hospital.
For his part, Mojica, who was also shot, died on the spot.
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