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Jensen Medina Cardona, charged with murder Arellys Mercado Ríos, He left prison yesterday following a court order from Fajardo, so he is now in his father’s house with an electronic lock, his lawyer confirmed, Jorge Gordon Menendez
“He will be under total ‘lockdown’ in the residence which must, for sure, be that of his third guardian, who is his father,” said Gordon Menéndez in a telephone interview with The new day.
The warrant has been issued by the judge Irmarie Colón Massó after an urgent motion calling for changes to the prison sentence, enacted on August 23, 2019 by the robed Vanessa Sánchez. According to Colón Massó’s court order, the preliminary arrest warrant has been amended and issued in accordance with what was ordered by the Supreme Court in its December 4 resolution.
The prison sentence in question involved a $ 1,150,000 bail, for which Medina Cardona was charged.
However, in December 2019, the Court of Appeals rescinded the bail increase from $ 1,500,000 to $ 300,000 to Medina Cardona, so Justice went to the Supreme Court in an attempt to overturn the decision.
It was not until March 10 that the Supreme Court declared inadmissible the request for an increase in bail against Medina Cardona, as requested by the Justice Department.
Justice then returned to the appeal in July to request reconsideration, but the plenary session of the Supreme Court, according to Gordón Menéndez, in a 6 to 3 decision declared the reconsideration motion inapplicable and ordered the Justice to comply with the resolution. The resolution was announced on December 16.
“ Given this, the defense is resorting to the court of first instance in Fajardo and asking the court to amend the jail sentence issued by the judge who increased the bail because he enters with that jail sentence with a bail of a millionaire, there was no other way. that he could get out. The court gave the public prosecutor 24 hours to speak out. […] The prosecution did not speak out. After the expiry of the 24-hour period given to the prosecution, the court had no choice but to order his release, ”the lawyer explained.
According to the documentation provided by the court administration, the surety company is Allegheny Casualty Company, with offices on Avenida Ponce de León. Medina Cardona borrowed a total of $ 30,000, or 10 percent of the original $ 300,000 bond, issued by Fajardo Court Judge Sánchez on August 21, 2019.
The next phase in this case is to hold a status hearing on January 14 and then continue the process.
Amid legal disputes between the defense and the prosecution, the trial technically began on January 14, when the victim’s cousin sat down to testify, who is a federal agent and was the one the family chose to identify the body at the Institute of Forensic Sciences.
The Court of Appeal ordered the suspension of the trial on August 25 against Medina Cardona in response to the summons of Certiorari filed by the defense for challenge the decision of the Court of First Instance to refuse the defendant from trial by jury.
Meanwhile, on Nov. 10, the Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors may use the photo in the trial that a witness identified Medina Cardona as Mercado Ríos’s alleged murderer by stating that no request for a reconsideration of the defense has been made.
The Most High also made it clear that this matter will not be addressed again after two attempts to reconsider the decision that the identification is valid.
From the preliminary hearing, the defense of Medina Cardona has tried several times to challenge the process of identification of the accused by the witness.
Finally, the Court of Appeal ruled on November 18 that Medina Cardona’s request to restore the right to a jury trial remains in the hands of the judge presiding over the trial, Gema González.
The jury, consisting of Abelardo Bermúdez Torres, Ivelisse Domínguez Irizarry and Monsita Rivera Marchand, argued that Medina Cardona had validly waived his jury trial, so he ‘cannot demand’ that the same right be restored to the Court of Appeal. .
Therefore, the court indicated that the controversy will return to the court of first instance, where Judge Gema González could ultimately decide whether the trial will be conducted by law or by a jury under strict “judicial discretion”.
The murder of Mercado Ríos dates back to August 2019, when he was shot in the neck after an argument on Villa Marina Boulevard in Fajardo.
Medina Cardona, 34, who, according to the prosecution, was also in Fajardo’s navy, is accused of pulling the trigger against Mercado Ríos after an argument on a cell phone.
The public prosecutor in this case consists of the prosecutors Eduardo Beale, Jaime Perea and Dianette Aymat.
Medina Cardona is charged with first-degree murder and two gun-law violations, for which he pleaded not guilty.