February It will be the month in which the sentences will be known in two police cases that have given rise to talk: that of Lucio Dupuy and the one of Fernando Baez Sosa. In recent months, and throughout the hearings, terms such as “treachery”, “intentional homicide” or “possible intent” have been heard, which may be inaccessible to those who are not usually interested in police cases or who are unaware of criminal law issues. . Here, a glossary of some of the terms to understand the cases.
Qualified manslaughter: It is a homicide where there are aggravating circumstances. Unlike a simple homicide, in these cases there are circumstances that make that crime more serious. In fact, although it is the basic figure of a homicide, according to the lawyer Pablo Fernandez Pereira, “Almost always a homicide has some kind of aggravating circumstance.” For example, from the moment a person uses a weapon to kill another instead of his own hands, it is considered qualified homicide.
“In real competition with”: this expression is used when more than one crime was committed. For example, in the Dupuy caseprosecutors accused Lucio’s mother and her partner of homicide triple qualified by the bond, by cruelty and treachery, in real contest with seriously outrageous sexual abuse.
Aggravating factors: elements, circumstances or scenarios that make the murder of a person more serious, affecting the sentence that the court can give to the accused. For example, aggravation by link (when the murderer is a relative or partner of the victim, since he took advantage of the trust placed in him and the victim could not assume that he was going to be attacked); gender (if the victim is a woman, that is, a “femicide”) or if the crime was carried out by a member of a public force.
Another aggravating circumstance may be treachery (that is, if the attacker acted safely, without taking risks, for example by attacking the victim from behind), cruelty (if the victim was tortured or made to suffer before he died) for the premeditated contest of two or more people (if the victim was attacked in a group, organizing to kill her with a distribution of roles).
The presence of aggravating factors can increase the sentence from 8 to 25 years, or be grounds for life imprisonment. In the case of Báez Sosa, prosecutors ask the court for the sentence of life imprisonment for homicide aggravated by treachery and by the premeditated competition of two or more people for the rugby players In the Dupuy case, the prosecution also requested a life sentence for Magdalena Esposito Valenti and your partner Abigail Paez for homicide triple qualified by the bond, by cruelty and treachery in royal contest with grossly insulting sexual abuse.
Intentional homicide: if the attacker used an item that was not supposed to have caused the death. “However, if the attacker is, for example, a taekwondo athlete, the fist is considered a weapon”; explains Fernandez Pereira.
Eventual fraud: commit fraud is to commit something with direct intention. eventual intentinstead, refers to an indirect intention, where the attacker should have been mentally represented the result of his action and despite everything he continued with the criminal act. “For example, if a person drives 180 km on a street, the result should be death, but he continues driving like this,” explains Fernández Pereira. The lawyer clarifies that it does not exist in the penal codes, but that it is a jurisprudence that is used as a guiding element. “There is a discussion about eventual fraud, whoever wants to classify something under that figure is usually criticized. As a defense attorney, you can object “how does a prosecutor go back in time and think about what my client was thinking,” explains Fernandez Pereira.
Murder in fight: when the homicide occurs in a fight between groups and it cannot be determined who killed the victim.
The Rugby Lawyer Hugo Tomeiconsiders that their crime should be classified as homicide in a fight, simple homicide with eventual or preterintentional intent.
Seriously offensive sexual abuse: It is all sexual abuse that contains aggravating factors such as having been committed repeatedly or continuously, exercising dominance and reducing the victim to the state of “stuff”.
Sexual abuse with carnal access: when sexual abuse is committed by introducing any object (from a stick to a finger or penis) through the victim’s anus, mouth or vagina.
In the case of Lucio Dupuy, in addition to being aggravated by the relationship (one of the murderers was the child’s mother), by cruelty (he was tortured) and treachery (it was safe, he was a minor and his attackers were two) in a real contest with seriously outrageous sexual abuse (it was committed repeatedly and prolonged in time) and with carnal access.
Image gallery
