A Caracas court in Venezuela handed down a 30-year prison sentence to Dahud Hanid Ortiz, a former US Marine, after finding him guilty of murdering three individuals in a law office in Madrid’s Usera district in 2016. The conviction also encompasses arson connected to the killings, with the court asserting that Ortiz was the author of the three murders and the ensuing fire.
According to sources provided to EFE by the public prosecutor, the judge presiding over the case read the verdict at the hearing held on Tuesday, stating that the facts presented during the trial supported Ortiz’s guilt. The sentence imposed is the maximum term allowed by Venezuelan law for the crimes for which Ortiz was convicted.
The ruling references testimony from witnesses and details the evidence examined by the Spanish police investigators, including mobile phone records and security camera footage that were presented during the trial.
The events occurred on June 22, 2016, when Ortiz traveled from Germany, where he had been living, to Madrid in a fit of jealousy. He entered the law office of Víctor Joel Salas in Usera and killed him as Salas was not present. Salas was involved in an extramarital affair, which allegedly contributed to the motive.
Ortiz also killed two office workers, Elisa Consuegra and Maritza Osorio, who were customers, and he was connected to Pepe Castillo, an Ecuadorian individual mentioned in the proceedings. After the murders, Ortiz set a fire and fled the scene, eventually being arrested in Venezuela in 2018.
Venezuelan authorities initially declined to extradite him to Spain, arguing that he remained a Venezuelan citizen. A member of Spain’s Supreme Court subsequently sent the case to a Caracas court in 2019 to initiate proceedings and pursue the trial.
The trial encountered multiple delays, starting anew three times due to changes in prosecutors or judges, before finally proceeding to a fourth start in March 2023. By December, the presiding magistrate prepared to read the sentence. Ortiz did not appear at the hearing, and there were early reports that he had fled, a claim later echoed by the Madrid court that had jurisdiction over the case and had sought to cancel the international arrest warrant against him. Ortiz had communicated with EFE through Victor Joel Salas regarding the ongoing proceedings.
After several days of uncertainty, the judge announced this week that Ortiz was in an immigration center in Caracas and that the parties would be summoned. The Tuesday hearing confirmed the sentence, with the court noting that on December 8 it had received a letter from Spain’s Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office indicating that Ortiz would be arrested and transferred to Spain, albeit Spain’s authorities had opposed the move.
Consequently, Ortiz remained under Interpol-Venezuela custody. A formal letter was sent to the court to discuss the defendant’s status, who was temporarily placed at the disposal of the Immigration Service in an immigration center until the court could regain jurisdiction to conclude the process and impose the sentence.