Jhonier Leal would receive the maximum penalty for not accepting the pre-agreement with the Prosecutor's Office, experts say

After the announcement of Jhonier Leal's decision to reject the pre-agreement he reached with the Attorney General's Office for the murder of his brother, stylist Mauricio Leal, and his mother, Marleny Hernández, the experts' reactions were not long in coming.

Elmer José Montaña, lawyer for the Leal family, said through a video he shared on his social networks that, “Mr. Jhonier Leal has just committed monumental folly by having retracted the pre-agreement he entered into with the Attorney General's Office. That agreement was unreasonably beneficial to him. The 27-year sentence he had agreed with the Public Prosecutor's Office would end up being reduced to approximately 12 years of effective imprisonment,” he said.

You may be interested: “I am innocent”: Jhonier Leal says he has acted under pressure and renounces the pre-agreement

In the video, which lasts 56 seconds, the lawyer assured what steps are being taken in this media case. “Now the prosecution will file the indictment in the next few days. They're not going to negotiate with Jhonier Leal. As a result of the oral and public trial to which he will be subjected, he will most likely be sentenced to more than 45 years 'imprisonment. The penalty he really deserves for the crimes of his mother and Mauricio Leal”, he concluded.

After his arrest last December, Leal was presented at the indictment hearing in which he refused to accept the crimes charged: aggravated homicide by kinship, defenselessness and brutality. On the second day of the hearing, Jhonier confessed to the crimes and subsequently reached a pre-agreement with the Prosecutor's Office.

On this situation, the defendant said on Friday afternoon that, “at one point I was opposed to making the pre-agreement and said that I was innocent. The next day I had to retract and plead guilty, because of media pressure, threats, intimidation and lack of financial resources.”

For his part, fellow criminal lawyer Marlon Fernando Diaz, in an interview with El Tiempo, said that: “Indeed, the 55 criminal judge of the circuit has not yet approved it, and therefore, the defense or prosecution can retract, unilaterally without it being necessary to prove any pressure or mental insanity or similar situation,” said the lawyer.

Now, with this move by Leal and his defense, the trial against him will continue on Friday, May 20 at 10 in the morning. Against this background, the Prosecutor's Office will conduct further investigations to prove Jhonier's guilt in both crimes.

Among the activities that the research body will carry out is the voice comparison in the last messages that Mauricio received during his lifetime. Likewise, it will make an analysis of the videos of the security cameras of the places close to the events.

As announced by the judge, the Prosecutor's Office presented 203 pieces of evidence in the pre-agreement concerning Jhonier Leal's responsibility in the crime. The investigators of the Prosecutor's Office determined that documentary and testimonial evidence indicated that the death of Mauricio Leal and his mother represented a homicide as such.

Finally, in an interview with Noticias RCN, criminal lawyer Ricardo Burgos said that this delaying action could lead to a maximum sentence of 60 years in prison and without any benefit. He added that, “although searches or pre-agreements are retractable, there may be defects in consent arising from external interference; pressure, coercion, threats, economic offers or any other kind of compensation.

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