Seville Court once again denies expanding investigation into the grounds of Marta del Castillo case

In a decision circulated by the Communications Bureau of the Andalusian Supreme Court of Justice (TSJA) on 24 March and collected by Europa Press, Third Division of the Court of Seville rejects the request of Marta del Castillo’s parents to invalidate the said decision, because “There is no room for extending the said examination to the mobile phones of third parties that have been tried before, since it would constitute a violation of the provisions of Article 588, subparagraphs 3.b and c.”

According to the court, the measure They lack the investigative nature of the search for Marta’s body because “it would affect their fundamental rights and the criminal process justifying the initiation of this separate piece”.

No room for “instruction extension”

According to the court, the search for the body “is the sole reason for preserving this piece before the investigation of the cause or the extension of the order can be reached.or that goes beyond the scope of this procedure and therefore limits the purpose of the agreed expert opinion to the examination of Miguel Carcaño’s telephone numbers, authorized by him; and the rest of the specialist’s telephone terminals, as it refers to the telephone owned and used by Marta del Castillo, as it refers to individuals for whom there is no justification for the work in question and no record of their consent to it.

At its disposal, the court ruled that the search for Marta del Castillo’s body had “no time limit” and that the National Police and Prosecutor’s Office “they can and should do research they deem necessary for their discovery, but this cannot lead to the continuation of an already completed procedure. and, to a lesser extent, the fundamental rights of persons previously tried, without prejudice to the fact that the police or prosecutor’s office can question what is accepted without judicial intervention if they give their consent.”

Further, the Court notes that the investigation of the raw data of Miguel Carcaño and Marta del Castillo’s mobile phones “must be left out of this separate piece, which must be declared finished when a final sentence is given on the offender.” transactions to which it relates.” It is aimed to implement new proceedings that affect the fundamental rights of people who are already prosecuted, that they no longer have investigative status,” the Court insists.

The Court does not see that the “principle of inviolability” has been violated, The right to effective legal protection, or the principle of legal certainty, is the extremes used by the Marta del Castillo family, on which this invalidation case also bears the costs of resolution.

Let us recall that in the context of this letter corresponding to the search for Marta del Castillo’s body, the Investigation Court No. Four of Seville, had responded to the family’s request for this line of inquiry to cover the “raw data” on cell phones of events.

In this context, on 21 September, the Investigation Court No. Four in Seville, Mobile telephony “reports by operators” of Miguel Carcaño and Marta del Castillo terminals, He “submits a report, agrees to file this piece while forwarding it,” he said to the appointed expert for the referral.

Also the Audience

In February 2022, the investigating court granted access to an expert. “raw phone data” of mobile phones owned by Miguel Carcaño and Marta del Castillo at the time of the events; but, as in the case of Carcaño’s brother Francisco Javier Delgado, he excluded the “remaining telephone terminals” by implying the mobile phones of other persons charged with the crime; girlfriend María García Mendaro, friend of Carcaño the young Francisco Javier García, known as Samuel Benítez or El Cuco.

The first three, let’s remember, Acquitted in the case brought against adults accused of this crime in 2011, In the Cuco case, she was convicted by the Juvenile Court for covering up the murder by Carcaño, and as early as 2022 Criminal Court number seven sentenced her and her mother to two years in prison for a false crime. Their presence as witnesses in the aforementioned case against adults in 2011.

Although Marta del Castillo’s parents objected to the exclusion order, on October 26, 2022, the Third Section of the Trial declared, “As the new doctrine of the Supreme Court is applicable (…), Acknowledging that the investigation period has expired, without previously accepting its extension, an effect to be commended in the present trial, which began on 9 November 2009 as a “separate piece to continue the efforts to search and find the victim’s body”, as the statement in question did not deal with the charges, without subsequently deciding to extend the investigation period.

previous decisions

The Third Section of the hearing argued that the Supreme Court’s decision became final after the Supreme Court appealed. the decision of the first-instance court of the Seventh Division on the main letter filed in relation to this crime; The second file in the case against Carcaño’s brother, Francisco Javier Delgado, on charges he accuses himself of being the real owner of the crime.

Referring to the lengthy case-law, the Third Section of the trial declared that “the investigation phase has been completed in view of the length of the investigation”, specifically “12 years, eleven months and 17 days”. “It also prevents the consideration of the actions decided before the end of the investigation period in accordance with the jurisprudence doctrine, but without committing any crime other than the crime that is the subject of prosecution in the main or main part”, It resulted in the conviction of Miguel Carcaño.

So the court was dismissed and the victim’s family appeal and thus affirmed the rejection of the “new evidentiary trial practice”.