Judge Orders Reinstatement Of "El Güero" Palma's Homicide Trial

 "Char" for Borderland Beat 

This article was translated and reposted by RÍODOCE 

A district judge annulled the formal arrest warrant against Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Héctor Palma Salazar, alias "El Güero" Palma, for the crime of aggravated homicide, and ordered a new trial so that the judicial authority responsible complies with due process, as it failed to hear testimony, questioning and confrontation between witnesses to the facts, reported the newspaper El Universal.

Conrado Alcalá Romo, third district judge, granted an injunction to the Sinaloa native, after considering that the second criminal judge of the first judicial district of the state of Jalisco did not comply with the essential formalities of the procedure when he decided to prosecute "El Güero" Palma, in May 2023, for his alleged responsibility in the murder of the deputy director of the prison of Puente Grande, Jalisco.

This accusation prevented the drug lord from being released from the maximum security prison of Altiplano, in the State of Mexico, after an appeals court ordered his release from prison because the Attorney General's Office did not have sufficient evidence to prosecute him for the crime of organized crime.

In his warrant ruling, Alcalá Romo determined that the criminal judge did not take the necessary steps to notify the witnesses who would testify in the proceedings in favor of the Sinaloa drug lord, even though they were offered in due time and form, thus violating the guarantee of hearing and defense of the former partner of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.

"He left the burden of proof to the plaintiff regarding the addresses or telephone numbers where the witnesses could be notified, ignoring the fact that the plaintiff requested him to make arrangements for their presentation, without having done so," the judge ruled.

When giving his preparatory statement before the judge of the case, on May 19, 2023, Palma Salazar requested the extension of the constitutional term to offer testimonies and inspection evidence, among them the testimony of the people who worked as guard and custody at the time of the facts, in the Centro Federal de Readaptación Social Número Dos "Occidente", as well as the inspection in said prison to certify the distribution, access and security diamonds of modules 2, 3 and 4, which the Sinaloan referred to in his statement and which prevented him from communicating with the other prisoners.

In spite of this, Alcalá Romo pointed out, the Second Criminal Judge of the First Judicial District of the State of Jalisco issued a formal order of imprisonment against Héctor Palma Salazar for his probable responsibility in the crime of aggravated homicide, in its modality of premeditation, advantage and malice aforethought, without carrying out the corresponding legal steps for the disclosure of the referred evidence offered.

"The responsible judicial authority did not comply with the essential formalities of the procedure in the period immediately prior to the trial, which violated Article 14 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, because even though it was in the extended pre-trial stage, it failed to ensure that the testimonial and interrogation of the witnesses was carried out.

Therefore, Conrado Alcalá Romo, Third District Judge, determined to grant the amparo and the protection of federal justice to Palma Salazar so that "the order of formal imprisonment of May 24, 2023 is rendered null and void, and the proceeding is reinstated, so that during the extended constitutional term, which must be granted again to the petitioner of the warrant, he orders the hearing of the testimonies and interrogation of the witnesses".

SOURCE: RIODOCE