The Supreme Court of Justice of the Community confirmed a sentence of fifteen and a half years in prison for the sole defendant found guilty in connection with the killing of a man in El Campello on September 9, 2019, according to the court’s decision issued this week. The other two defendants testified at trial but were acquitted by the jury, which did not find their involvement proven. While the jury could not conclude that the defendant bore financial responsibility for the shootings, it did find evidence of his participation in the crime. This finding contributed to the sanctions imposed for the period in question.
The TSJ’s Law and Criminal Division affirmed the Alicante District Court verdict that sentenced Luis Francisco B., aged 46, as the only defendant convicted by the popular jury at the initial trial. The Supreme Court rejected the defendant’s challenge, stating that the considerable body of incriminating evidence reviewed by the jury was not arbitrary or unreasonable and supported the verdict rather than resting on mere conjecture. The TSJ noted that the jury’s assessment was grounded in facts and not speculation, reinforcing the credibility of the evidence against the accused.
The Alicante Court had previously sentenced him to 15 years in prison last February for murder, plus a fine for the crime and six months’ imprisonment for forging official documents because the license plate of the vehicle used in the crime was stolen from a different car. The court also ordered a 100,000 euro indemnity in favor of the deceased’s son.
The court thus applied the guilty verdict from the popular jury while clearing the other two defendants of the same charges. The jury concluded that third parties were involved in the murder, but found no proof of involvement by the other defendants. Investigators alleged that the defendant was involved in drug trafficking and that others hired hitmen to carry out the killing.
The events date back to September 9, 2019, when the accused was traveling from Madrid to El Campello in a vehicle bearing a license plate from another car that had been stolen earlier.
Planning
The defendant stayed in a rented house in the town of Alicante and, five days later, went near the victim’s home on Calle alongside unidentified third parties. The El Campello mayor and local authorities were present near the Villa Marco shopping center and the Muchavista beach area. The assailants waited for the victim, who was walking a dog, and someone—identified or unknown—pursued him. The victim was shot twice in the head from behind and died at the scene.
During the appeal, the TSJ sought to address arguments about possible involvement by a brother, suggesting that the witness or the vehicle and weapon might be associated with a family member. The defense had proposed that the brother might have played a role or that the appellant himself could be implicated in another way. The court found that the descriptions of the weapon and the method did not provide a credible alternative version that could match the timing and sequence of events in relation to the murder.
The Supreme Court upheld the sentence for both murder and document falsification for placing false plates on the vehicle used in the crime. The court emphasized that the confession did not arise solely from the jury’s assumptions, and that the presumption of innocence is legitimately outweighed by substantial circumstantial evidence and a clear link between the evidence and the conclusion of guilt. The appellate judges in the TSJCV reiterated this assessment in the decision on appeal. [Source: TSJ decision, Alicante Court records, case details.]
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