Indignation of the relatives of the victim for the reduced sentence of Eugenio Veppo: “We are trying to process this news”

“I have bad news”, he heard Gabriela Shock (40) this Tuesday afternoon on returning from work. At the end of the line, the voice of his lawyer, he relativized: the National Chamber of Criminal and Correctional Cassation reduced Eugenio Veppo’s sentence by more than three yearsthe journalist who ran over and killed Cinthia Shock (28) in the early morning of September 8, 2019.

The judgment for unanimity was dictated by Chamber I, composed of judges Gustavo Bruzzone, Jorge Luis Rimondi there Mauro Divitowhich reduced the trial sentence by 9 years and 3 months in prison A 5 years and 10 months. For the maids it was a “culpable homicideand not with a “possible intention”, as established by Oral Criminal Court No. 14 during the oral trial.

“The first thing I asked my lawyer was if the decision could be appealed and appealed to the Supreme Court of Justice. The reality is that it is not it didn’t quite occur to me what the judges relied on to change the classification of the case and overturn the sentence. With my family we are still trying to process this news“says Gabriela to GlobeLiveMediawith indignation still surfacing.

You may be interested: Eugenio Veppo was sentenced to 9 years and 3 months in prison for killing a traffic policeman

And he continues: “My lawyer explained to me that they used the ‘benefit of the doubt’. What do you want me to tell you? In the end, it seems that he (Veppo), who took my sister’s life, has more rights than her. was driving at top speed, drunk, he knocks down two traffic cops, kills one, escapes and shows up 12 hours later to have his breathalyzer undetected. And now they have the benefit of the doubt? What doubt are they talking about?

The relatives of Cinthia Choque were not the only ones to express their dissatisfaction with the judgment of cassation. Via your account Twitterthe executive director of the National Road Safety Agency (ANSV) pointed the finger at the judges and recalled that the bill “Death on the Road” are still waiting to be processed in the lower house.

“One more time, judges do psychology not justice: his actions are the measure of the driver’s intention, not of his inner world. The benefit of the doubt favors the defendant, they said. There is no doubt that the remains of Cinthia Choque are underground and whoever killed her will soon be going for a drink in Palermo,” he said. Pablo Martinez Carignano.

In tune, the Secretary of Transport and Public Works of the City, Manuela Lopez Menendezrepudiated the decision and called it a “A Setback”. Furthermore, he expressed his solidarity with the family of the victim.

“In 2019, Eugenio Veppo was driving in a zigzag, crossing red lights and at more than 130 km/h on Av. Figueroa Alcorta. He took the life of Cinthia Choque, who worked with Santiago Siciliano, any minute now.. The court reduced his sentence to 5 years and 10 months in prison. Coverage of the case went from simple to manslaughter. That is to say, they interpret that the driver did not intend to kill, that he did not interpret the damage he could cause to third parties. All my rejection of this decision which involves a setback and only reopens the wounds of the whole family. My solidarity with Cinthia’s loved ones today and always,” he wrote.

After the new judicial resolution, the lawyer Diego Szpigielrepresentative of Veppo, who is incarcerated in Ezeiza prison, told the news agency telam that this week he will ask for “liberation in terms of Conditional liberty and that the Education Stimulus Act“, regulation which allows prisoners to deduct, with various courses, time from the calculation of the sentence.

In the 42-page judgment, the maids argued that before hitting the officers “Veppo tried to avoid the collision with two taximeters, which he actually did, for which he made two stopsone before overtaking the first vehicle and the other when zigzagging in front of the second”.

“Furthermore, it should be noted that after that, in the moments leading up to the impact with the victims, the brake lights also came on, as can be seen on the filming of the sequence, broadcast during the debate “, they added.

You may be interested: Video: This is how Eugenio Veppo escaped after knocking down the two traffic cops

Thus, for judgesthe defendant was convinced that he would be able to avoid possible collisions with vehicles“, therefore “the assumption made in the judgment that he resigned himself to causing both the death and the serious injuries he caused to the victims” is unclear.

They also ruled out the defense’s hypothesis that “if they had driven at 70 km/h, the result would have been the same”, since the rest of the pilots who were driving at that speed avoided the control “without difficulties”.

“Instead, says speeding, and even reckless driving; appear insufficient, on the grounds given, to preach with certainty that intentional action is necessary at this point in relation to the death of Cinthia Shock there Santiago Siciliano’s injuries“, they said.

Chamber I stated that “the actions attributed to Veppo involved serious offenses custody rules for which he was responsible, aggravated by his subsequent behavior, but without any fraudulent behavior having been proven during the debate”, protected by the “benefit of the doubt”.

You may be interested: Traffic cop knocked down by Eugenio Veppo speaks: ‘I thank the hospital staff who saved my life’

“In summary, although the irresponsible and reckless conduct of Veppo may well justify, according to the characteristics of the event, an attribution as possible fraud at the stage of the investigation as a hypothesis, which served as a framework for the debate, it is necessary to recognize that once this has been concluded, it has not been possible to prove that with the certainty implied by a conviction, which is why, on the basis of the principle in doubt for the accusedthis corresponds to framing the conduct of the appointees in the respective types of recklessness, ”Judge Divito concluded in his vote, which his colleagues adhered to.

The accident happened around 3:35 p.m. September 8, 2019when Veppo, who was driving with a friend and a friend to a bowling alley on the Buenos Aires waterfront, was driving his Volkswagen Passat V6 FSI 4 Motion with automatic gearbox, which he had bought the day before.

According to the prosecution, what was recorded by the security cameras and what was stated by witnesses, the car went through two red lights and came “recklessly zigzagging” and at an average speed of 132.75 kilometers per hour along Figueroa Alcorta Avenue, when the maximum on this avenue is 70.

A few meters before reaching the intersection with Tagle Street, where traffic control had been put in place, and after passing a high-speed taxi on the right, Veppo slammed into the front right of his vehicle in Choque and Siciliano, causing the death of the first and seriously wounding the second.

*With information from Telam

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