Journalist Eugenio Veppowho in 2019 ran over and killed a traffic agent and injured another in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo, was released in the last hours after the Justice granted him the benefit of the conditional freedom under oath. Said resolution came weeks after the National Chamber of Criminal and Correctional Cassation lowered his sentence to 5 years and 10 months in prison (in the first instance he had received a sentence of 9 years and 3 months) considering that it was a culpable homicide and not with eventual intent, as had been established in the oral trial.
“They applied the Educational Stimulus Law to him and with that he met the time requirement, and since the prison reports of his resocializing treatment during his detention were optimal, they released him in terms of probation,” he explained to infobae lawyer Diego Szpigiel, representative of Veppo. In this way, the journalist left the Ezeiza prison yesterday after 3 years, 7 months, and 13 days of confinement.
The event occurred around 3:35 a.m. on September 8, 2019, while Veppo was driving his Volkswagen Passat V6 FSI 4 Motion. According to the accusation, what was recorded by the security cameras and what was declared by witnesses, the car crossed two red lights and came “recklessly zigzagging” and at a average speed of 132.75 km/h along Figueroa Alcorta avenue, when the maximum on that avenue is 70. Meters before reaching the intersection with Tagle street, where a traffic control had been set up, the condemned man rammed the front right of his vehicle into the agents Cinthia Choque (28) and Santiago Siciliano (34). The woman died and her partner suffered very serious injuries.
In March 2021, the Oral Criminal Court (TOC) of Buenos Aires No. 14, made up of judges Domingo Altieri, Hugo Cataldi and Silvia Mora, sentenced the journalist, considering him the author of the crimes of simple homicide in an ideal contest with serious injuries, both figures as eventual fraud. Besides, disqualified him from driving vehicles for a term of 10 years.
However, Chamber I of the Chamber of Cassation reduced the sentence. the chambermaids Gustavo Bruzzone, Jorge Luis Rimondi and Mauro Divito considered that the case should be framed as aggravated manslaughter and aggravated manslaughter, for reckless, negligent or unlawful driving of a motor vehicle, and for having fled without trying to help the victims, driving at excessive speed of more than 30 km/h above the maximum allowed at the scene of the event, and with reckless negligence.
“could not be accreditedwith the degree of certainty required at this point, that the actions of the accused have included in his will to carry out the possibility of running over the traffic agents that they were on the road, an extreme that cannot be deduced simply from the behavior that he expressed, ”explained Judge Divito in his vote, to which his colleagues adhered.
According to Room I, before impacting the agents “Veppo tried to avoid the collision with two taximeters, which he effectively achieved, for which he made two stops: one before passing the first vehicle and the other, at the moment of passing in a way zigzagging the second”. “In addition, it is noted that, after that, in the moments before the impact with the victims, the brake lights also came on, as can be seen in the filming of the sequence, shown during the debate,” added the Chamber. For this reason, for the magistrates, “the defendant trusted that he would be able to avoid eventual vehicular collisions”, thus “the hypothesis assumed in the ruling that he resigned himself to causing both the death and the serious injuries that he caused to the women” is blurred. victims”.
The resolution was questioned by Cinthia Choque’s family through a statement: “We repudiate this ruling, we repudiate the message that is given to society. But above all it hurts our souls that there is no Justice for Cinthia and her daughters. Let the murderers be released and not be tried as they should be. That road killers continue to overlap with “it is unintentional” or “it was an accident” among other excuses that they find with the laws and modifications that always have something to free interpretation. We know that no matter how many years they give us, they don’t bring us back to our Cinthia, but this is already the last straw… we find it a joke”.
With the favorable ruling of the Chamber, Veppo I was going to be able to apply for parole only in July of this year. However, the computation times were shortened, in part, by the Educational Stimulus regime. This regulation is contemplated in article 140 of Law 24,660 and allows prisoners to discount, with various courses, “the terms required for progress through the different phases and periods of the progressiveness of the penitentiary system.”
During his stay in prison, Veppo passed the following courses endorsed by the General Directorate of Culture and Education of the Province of Buenos Aires: Producer of indoor plants, Intern in Graphic Design of Computer Systems Level 1 and Level 2, Leather Goods Assistant, Computerized Animation System Operator, Administrative Accounting Management Software Operator, Intern in Serigraphy and Tax Settlement Assistant.
He also enrolled in the National Technological University (UTN) and completed the Diploma in SME Management with Orientation in Effective Communication, at the same time that he approved the subjects of the first year of the University Technician in Administration. All of this meant that their prison terms were reduced by 3 months and 6 daysas stated in the resolution to which he agreed infobae.
In TOC 14, they also took into account the criminological technical report of last September, December and March, which they described as “exemplary” conduct of Veppo in jail. The journalist worked in the cleaning area of Unit 31 of the SPF.
“Likewise, and despite his status as ‘processed’ prevented having a prognosis for social reintegration within the framework of an Individual Treatment Program, the non-existence of disciplinary corrections since his entry into the orbit of the Penitentiary Service was focused, realizing this, of the normal compliance with the prison regulations of good coexistence both for the prison staff and, as well, for their peers”, added the court.
It should be noted that Veppo You will not be able to drive again until you serve the disqualification.
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