María Isabel TO appealed to the court alleging that the sentence was baseless, but the court confirms the sentence
The woman accused of killing a neighbor of the La Paz neighborhood in Murcia, after dousing her with gasoline and setting her on fire, has been sentenced to a quarter of a century in prison. After an appeal from her defense, the Civil and Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice (TSJ) recently confirmed the sentence of 25 years in prison imposed by the Provincial Court after the guilty verdict of a popular jury.
Its nine members considered that María Isabel TO was responsible for the death of Dolores MC, 38 years old and mother of five children, on September 18, 2018 and that it occurred under the aggravating circumstances of treachery and cruelty.
During the trial, the defendant acknowledged that she was the one who burned her neighbor by spraying her with gasoline and setting her on fire, but defended that she did so because of the mental disorders she suffers from and the consumption of large amounts of cocaine and alcohol. «I threw the gasoline on it and caused the fire out of fear and, also, because the voices spoke to me. They told me that if she didn’t kill her, she was going to kill me,” said María Isabel.
Five years of supervised freedom
In its sentence, the Court imposed 25 years in prison and another five years of supervised freedom on the defendant. In addition, the resolution includes an order that prevents the woman from approaching or communicating with the victim’s partner and children, to whom she must also compensate 600,000 euros.
In her appeal, the defense of María Isabel TO defended that a series of “procedural violations” had occurred in this procedure that would have violated the right of the accused to a fair trial. She also argued that the popular jury’s guilty verdict had no evidentiary basis. Some arguments that, however, have not prevented the TSJ from ending up confirming the resolution. Against this there is still an appeal.
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