Jensen Medina Cardona, charged with the murder of Arellys Mercado Ríos, is released on bail

The judge of the Fajardo Court, Irmarie Colón Massó, has issued an injunction approving an urgent motion calling for changes to the prison sentence, issued on August 23, 2019 by the robed Vanessa Sánchez, so that Jensen Medina Cardona, charged with murder Arellys Mercado Ríos, will be released on bail tonight, Friday.

According to Colón Massó’s court order, the preliminary detention order has been amended and issued as ordered by the Supreme Court in its Dec. 4 decision.

Likewise, it mandated the Pretrial Services Program to coordinate the installation of an electronic bracket to monitor Medina Cardona.

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 23, 2019.

The Supreme Court stated on March 10 that the request for an increase in bail against Medina Cardona filed by the Ministry of Justice had not been accepted. The defendant had already paid bail before the request of Justice to increase the amount.

Last December, the Court of Appeals rescinded the increase in bail from $ 300,000 to $ 1,150,000 to Medina Cardona, so Justice went to the Supreme Court in an attempt to overturn the decision.

Lawyer Jorge Gordon Menéndez, for his part, emphasized on January 13, when it was announced that Medina Cardona would waive a jury trial, that the ‘excess’ of journalistic information has allowed much of the evidence to be passed on to the public during the broadcasts of the preliminary hearing, at the expense of an impartial and fair assessment of the facts.

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.