After a strong confrontation between Jhonier Leal’s lawyer and the judge in the case, the judicial official ordered copies before the Sectional Council of the Judiciary so that the representative of the accused murderer of his brother Mauricio and his mother Marleny Hernández could be disciplinary investigated.
The proceeding was carried out before the 55th criminal court of the Bogotá circuit and began after 9 in the morning, but for the second time the defense of johnier asked to postpone the diligence.
According to the lawyer Ana Julieth Velásquez, who represents the defendant, she has not had enough time to study all the evidence provided by the Prosecutor’s Office and, in addition, other hearings are scheduled for September to obtain other evidence in the case, such as the obtaining samples from the accused and selective search in databases.
In this regard, the judge called his attention for having requested these new tests now, despite the fact that he has had enough time. And then she ordered the stagecoach to continue.
Ana Julieth Velásquez, Jhonier Leal’s lawyer
“It was known from the socialization of the pre-agreement that there is countless information that must be analyzed by the defense, but the defender had more than 4 months to do so and to obtain new evidence… It is a reasonable time for analysis and for the approach of a theory of the case. She has had more than four months to carry out these investigative tasks, ”said the judge.
After this, the judge denied the petition. postpone the procedure and gave the floor to the lawyer so that she could state if she had any disagreement with the material evidence transferred by the Prosecutor’s Office, but the defender, visibly upset, said that she refused to continue the procedure because it was a violation of the rights of the indicted.
“As a Colombian citizen and as a legal professional I refuse to continue with this diligence, I feel that I am being a victim of the State, of the judiciary, and that constitutional rights are being violated. This is disrespectful,” she noted.
The judge suspended the hearing and summoned a new one to analyze what she considered the lawyer’s contempt for her decision.
In that diligence that was carried out in a reserved manner, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office requested that the lawyer be sanctioned for not heeding the judge’s order.
The victims’ lawyer, Elmer Montaña, objected and pointed out that procedural guarantees should be given to all parties.
Sources close to the process indicated that at that hearing the lawyer apologized to the judge and gave new arguments about her position to request a new postponement in order to start the preparatory stage of the trial.
Despite the request that was made in the proceeding to order her arrest or to impose a fine for incurring contempt, the judge decided not to take any immediate disciplinary action against the lawyer but determined that the facts go to the judiciary .
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