Heny Borel: Prosecutor details behind-the-scenes of the jury and explains the MP's appeal

In the early hours of Thursday (4), the Rio de Janeiro Jury Court sentenced Jairo Souza Santos Júnior, known as Jairinho, to 43 years, nine months and 20 days in prison for the death of Henry Borel, aged four.

Monique Medeiros, the child's mother, was convicted of omission in the face of the torture suffered by her son and received a sentence of one year and four months, already considered served, thus leaving the penitentiary where she was held in Rio de Janeiro.

In an interview with Live CNN on Friday (5), prosecutor Fábio Vieira, who has been following the case since the beginning, detailed the behind-the-scenes of the trial. He announced that the Public Ministry has already appealed the decision regarding Monique Medeiros, as it understands that the process was null and void.

"There are some points that need to be explained. The first is that it is a very sensitive trial, when we have a situation that involves men and women as protagonists of violence. We knew it would be a very sensitive trial in relation to Medeiros", said the prosecutor.

In the judicial pardon granted to Monique Medeiros, judge Elizabeth Machado Louro declared that Henry Borel's mother was the target of "five long years of relentless persecution against her honor and self-esteem as a mother", in addition to speaking about "open misogyny" against Monique.

According to Fábio Vieira, during the voting in the secret room, the jurors responded, by 4 votes to 3, that Monique was silent in the face of the torture suffered by her son and that they did not absolve her for that.

Then, when asked whether the omission was intentional, the jurors also answered yes, by 4 to 3, which, at that time, constituted a conviction for intentional homicide.

"Before starting the secret room, all the questions are read by the judge to the parties. They read the questions and agree whether they are regular or not. And the parties agreed to the regularity of these questions", stated the prosecutor.

However, after one of Monique's defense lawyers questioned the clarity of the question, the judge responsible for the trial decided to reformulate it.

In the reformulation, the question began to ask whether Monique had acted with guilt in the omission. "This completely reverses the order of what is already precluded. Precluded means that the issue had already been decided and I cannot go back on it, but the judge decided to redo the question", reported Vieira.

Appeal by the Public Ministry
Vieira informed that the Public Ministry has already appealed to the Court of Justice, arguing that the reformulation of the question generated an absolute nullity in the trial. "If this appeal is granted, we would have a new trial," he explained.

The prosecutor also highlighted that everything that happened is recorded in the minutes of the case, which is public and can be accessed by anyone.

In addition to the question of the question, Fábio Vieira pointed out what he classified as a double legal error in the granting of judicial pardon by the magistrate. According to him, the jurors themselves had already been asked about acquitting Monique and responded negatively.

"They have already used their sovereignty to say that she cannot be forgiven for the situation. This is the first mistake that, in my opinion, the judge makes in this judicial pardon", he stated.

The second mistake, according to the prosecutor, was the very application of judicial pardon to the case, arguing that this institute is intended for situations of involuntary negligence. He cites as an example the forgetting of a child in the car due to lack of habit with this responsibility.

"In Monique's case, we have a woman who intentionally let her son be tortured, who knows the situation her son was going through and who neglects the care of her son. It is completely contradictory to grant judicial pardon to a woman who subjected her son to that situation", said Vieira.

The conviction and its effects
Vieira drew attention to the fact that, even with the sentence considered served, Monique Medeiros remains formally convicted.

"Society looked at Monique and said: you are responsible for the torture your son suffered", said the prosecutor. He further highlighted that a conviction for manslaughter does not represent an acquittal, but rather recognition of negligence that resulted in the child's death.

The prosecutor emphasized that the Public Prosecutor's Office's entire argument is based exclusively on the evidence gathered in the judicial process.

"What we argue in the jury trial is what is within the process. The facts proven within the process", concluded Fábio Vieira, reinforcing the institution's commitment to defending citizens' rights.

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Source: CNN