A criminal court in Cañete acquitted two defendants of the 2020 murder of Moisés Orellana Pavéz, despite finding them guilty of participating in a violent arson attack that occurred the same night.
The Oral Criminal Court ruled that the prosecution failed to prove the defendants' direct involvement in the fatal shooting of the 21-year-old. Orellana was shot in the head while inside his vehicle in a rural area of Cañete in September 2020.
While the court cleared the men of homicide, it convicted both of robbery with intimidation and arson. The prosecution is seeking prison sentences of up to 40 years for each individual.
Family calls verdict a mockery
The verdict has sparked outrage among the victim's relatives, who claim the ruling leaves the true killers unidentified. Luis Pavéz, the victim's uncle, demanded that authorities arrest the remaining suspects.
“That is what we ask as a family, that justice is done, that all those guys who are missing are detained because they have names,” Pavéz said. “I don't know what justice is doing that they aren't detaining them.”
Another relative, Cecilia Arévalo, described the court's decision as a mockery of the family's search for answers. She questioned how the defendants could be cleared of the killing when they were implicated in the night's violence.
“How can it be that, having people implicated in the matter, they are being acquitted of the crime of having murdered Moisés?” Arévalo said. “Then, who killed him? Where are the real killers?”
Defense attorney Vania Villarroel said the court's decision was a victory for her clients. She argued that the prosecution's reliance on anonymous witnesses undermined the integrity of the trial.
“The court accepted our allegations regarding the fact that a verdict could not be reached through anonymous information that the defense could not access,” Villarroel stated. She noted these witnesses were brought into the investigation through reserves from other cases.
The court will announce the specific prison sentences for the arson and robbery convictions on April 24 at 2:00 p.m.
