The preliminary hearing against Lemuel Cruz Cruz, accused of killing Alexander Cardona Torrado in 2020, was suspended this Friday.
As it is pointed out, the officer who suffered from the health certificate is due to nerves.
A further trial is scheduled for June 16.
Cruz Cruz was released last week, after the defense of the 44-year-old “Habeas Corpus” filed an appeal last Tuesday.
“It’s outside but with electronic monitoring, in lockdown, it’s not like it’s free,” prosecutor Liza Delgado González confirmed.
The woman who witnessed the crime refuses to testify.
Cruz Cruz has the right to request a solution if the trial has not been within six months, as explained to all citizens. Delgado González explained that the delay in the judicial process is due to the health conditions of the defense and other legal matters.
The friend and main witness of the victim in the case, Adriana Rivera Andujar, married the defendant, which allowed the defense to invoke the spousal witness privilege, which allows the case not to compel the testimony.
Authorities arrested Rivera Andújar on June 2, 2022 in the state of Florida, apparently as a witness to the murder of Cardona, which occurred on June 24, 2020 in Arecibo.
Cardona Torrado was allegedly killed by Cruz Cruz, who was indicted in 2020, but his case was later dismissed. The man was arrested again.
In September of that year, the prosecution requested that the charges be filed, since the main witness – a friend of the victims – was moving to the United States and refused to testify.
However, the case was returned to the prosecutor Yamil Juarbe, who resumed the process and on April 22, 2022, the case of the arrest in absentia was found, the murder of Cardona Torrado, which took place in San Pablo street in the urbanization of San Rafael.
