Pau Rigo can breathe a sigh of relief. The Public Prosecutor and the private complainant have decided not to appeal the acquittal of the elderly man who killed a thief in his home in Porreres, following the decisive verdict of the popular jury that cleared him for acting in self-defense. The sentence, which the presiding judge will issue in the coming days, will bring six years of an unusual judicial odyssey to a close for Rigo, who has already faced two trials in this case on homicide charges.
All the sources in the case agree that the jury’s verdict, made public late on Thursday after two days of deliberation, was described as solid and conclusive. The jury, this time composed of six women and three men, answered unanimously to a series of questions about Rigo’s actions on February 24, 2018, when two masked youths armed with iron bars assaulted the house where the elderly man and his wife were staying.
The uniform decision of the jury, which largely trusted Rigo’s account, shows that the man had no intention to kill. He retrieved the shotgun that was already loaded in a private room to scare the intruders away and fired at one of them when that person attempted to strike him with a metal bar. The conclusion is that the elderly man is not guilty of causing Mauricio Escobar’s death by acting to defend his life with proportionate means.
This recital of proven facts accompanying Rigo’s acquittal leaves little room for the charges to keep the case alive in higher courts. Only a glaring error in the evaluation of the evidence or a lack of motive behind the conclusions would allow the exculpation to be overturned, according to the same sources. Neither the public prosecutor nor the private accusation believe those conditions exist in the verdict. Unlike the first trial, where the ultimate decision was reached by a slim majority and led to a procedural nullity, the popular jury has been unanimous in its resolution. Therefore, after reviewing the verdict, both prosecutors and the private party accept that they will not file appeals against the acquittal. The Public Prosecutor’s Office had sought three years of prison for the elderly man and the private accusation ten.
No compensation
The jury’s decision also has financial consequences. The charges had demanded that Rigo compensate €160,000 to the mother of the young man killed during the robbery. With the acquittal, the elderly man is discharged from paying this compensation.
The sentence now leaves one remaining question: the penalty for Fredy Escobar, the brother of the deceased, for his involvement in the assault. The other two involved, Marcos Rotger and José Antonio Sánchez, are expected to receive three-year terms, as agreed with the prosecutors, under the terms of their deal. The resolution of these issues will be addressed in separate proceedings, as the case winds its way through the judicial system.