GUILTY Spain - Denise Thiem, 40, U.S. traveler, Astorga, 4 April 2015

[ZaZara]

THE TSJ WILL DECIDE ON SEPTEMBER 5 ABOUT THE APPEAL OF THE MURDERER OF THE PEREGRINA

Diario de León.es
http://www.diariodeleon.es/noticias...mbre-recurso-asesinato-peregrina_1178141.html

The Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) of Castilla y León will decide on 5 September on the appeal of Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas, sentenced by the National Court for the murder in Castrillo de los Polvazares (municipality of Astorga) of the American pilgrim Denise Pikka Thiem, whom he also robbed of more than 1,100 US dollars, Efe reported yesterday.

The Provincial Court imposed a 23-year prison sentence after the jury court issued a guilty verdict against the accused during the trial in April. Muñoz's defense demands his acquittal, considering that in the process his rights to personal liberty, to defense in the police proceedings and to the presumption of innocence were violated.

In the same appeal, an offense of homicide with theft is considered an alternative to acquittal, with the mitigation of psychic anomaly of the one condemned for the murder of the pilgrim, which took place on April 5, 2015. In the appeal, the defense lawyer insists that the information disseminated by the mass media influenced the conviction of his client and he alleges the lack of neutrality of the agents of the police who carried out the investigation.

Muñoz Blas was sentenced by the Provincial Court of León to 20 years in prison for the murder of the peregrina and three years for a crime of robbery with violence.


BBM


The same story over and over again. I wonder if the lawyer copy-pastes his appeals and does he really expect a different outcome?

:waiting:

 

[ZaZara]

Happy birthday to you, Denise, 43 years today.

All the best to your family and your friends and to everybody who misses you.


:daisy:

 

[ZaZara]

DENISE'S MURDERER SEEKS ACQUITTAL OR HOMICIDE WITH MITIGATION AT THE COURT OF CASTILLA AND LEÓN

La Nueva Crónica
https://www.lanuevacronica.com/el-a...ion-o-el-homicidio-con-atenuante-en-el-tsjcyl


Next Tuesday - and after two adjournments - the hearing is scheduled to decide on the appeal of the murderer of the pilgrim Denise in the Civil and Criminal Division of the Superior Court of Justice of Castilla y León, based in Burgos. Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas' defense appealed against the sentence of the Provincial Court of León, which sentenced him to 23 years in prison as the author of the assassination and a crime of robbery with violence against the North American pilgrim Denise Pikka Thiem.

The petition seeks the acquittal of Muñoz Blas and asks the regional court to recognize an infringement of fundamental rights to personal liberty, defense and the presumption of innocence of the convicted person, although in a subsidiary and alternative way requests that the conduct "homicide" be considered as "prosecuted conduct" in connection with the crime of theft and an estimation of mitigating psychological anomaly.

Throughout the brief, counsel insists that his representative had been convicted as a murderer by the media since his arrest and tries to discredit the entire police investigation by accusing the police officers in charge of having a "real fixation" on Muñoz Blas. In his opinion, from the very beginning "a social conscience of guilt was created against the convicted person, which has undoubtedly been reflected in the procedural course of the facts investigated."

He also notes that other people whom Denise met during her pilgrimage to Santiago would, in his opinion, have the same grounds for being arrested as his client. According to the lawyer in the appeal, what emerges from the trial held at the Provincial Court of León is "the confirmation" that "Miguel Ángel Muñoz was arrested without a constitutional basis, based on inferences and suspicions, and as a consequence, basically, of his ideological affiliations, if not of his way of being, which was said to be angry or violent by people whose credibility must be reasonably questioned in view of the circumstances detailed by the Judicial Police officers in charge of the case."


BBM


Here he goes again. And again and again. Two years almost to the day that MAMB was arrested and the remains of Denise were found at last.

Don't ask me what the difference is between this appeal and the previous one. IMHO we are not done yet, probably the next step is the Supreme Court of Spain, and then there is still the European Court of Human Rights.

:gaah:

 

[ZaZara]

DEFENSE OF THE MURDERER OF DENISE THIEM REQUESTS ANNULMENT OF SENTENCE

El Periódico,com
http://www.elperiodico.com/es/socie...se-thiem-pide-anulacion-de-la-condena-6280811

The defense lawyer for Miguel Ángel Muñoz, who was sentenced to 23 years in prison by the Audiencia de León following a trial with a popular jury for the assassination and violent robbery of the US pilgrim Denise Thiem in 2015, has called for the sentence to be set aside or a substantial reduction in his sentence.

In the appeal against the sentence, which has been heard today by the Superior Court of Justice of Castilla y León (TSJCYL), the defense lawyer, Emilio Cortés, has argued to ask for nullity because the rights of the convicted person have been infringed since the Judicial Police acted with "a certain lightness" by arresting and questioning him without the presence of a lawyer.

He has considered that "a culprit was sought, not the culprit," because there was pressure from the U. S. Consulate to solve the crime.

However, both the prosecutor and the lawyer for the private prosecution, Fernando Rodríguez, have agreed that the arrest occurred after a previous investigation and "not due to consular pressure".

Fernando Rodríguez has explained that the investigation took place from the time of the crime, in April, until the arrest of Miguel Ángel Muñoz, in September of the same year.

He considered that what initially took place was not an interrogation without a lawyer, but a "spontaneous declaration" of the then suspect, who indicated to the police officers where the body of the pilgrim was located.

At the hearing, the defence also referred to the lack of evidence which would not give rise to a 20-year sentence for murder, but rather a 12-year sentence for homicide; and considered that robbery with violence, which has resulted in a sentence of three years' imprisonment, should be dismissed or replaced by theft, since the convicted person was able to seize the victim's money after his death.

The lawyer for the private prosecution and the Public Prosecutor's Office have agreed that the people's jury issued its verdict on the basis of "sufficient evidence of charge", such as the lack of defensive injuries to the victim, the statement of the convicted person and the fact that, twelve days after the murder, Miguel Ángel Muñoz went to a bank to change to euros 1,132 dollars of which he could not prove the provenance.


BBM


MAMB has a new lawyer. If I understand him well, it isn't robbery if you first kill the victim and then collect their belongings.


:ignore:

 

[ZaZara]

COURT REJECTS APPEAL OF MURDERER OF PEREGRINA DENISE AND UPHOLDS 23-YEAR SENTENCE

el Correo Gallego.es
http://www.elcorreogallego.es/galic...-anos/idEdicion-2017-09-27/idNoticia-1074945/

The Civil and Criminal Division of the Superior Court of Justice of Castilla y León (TSJCyL) has dismissed the appeal filed by the defense of the murderer of the American pilgrim Denise Pikka Thiem and has confirmed the 23 years of sentence imposed by the Court of León.

During the appeal hearing, held on 12 September, Emilio Cortés, counsel for Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas, requested the annulment of the verdict or a substantial reduction in sentence.

Muñoz Blas was sentenced to 20 years in prison for murder and another 3 years for robbery with violence.

The defence counsel argued that the rights of the convicted person had been violated because the Judicial Police acted with "a certain lightness" by arresting him and questioning him without the presence of a lawyer.

He denounced that "a culprit was sought, not the culprit," because there was pressure from the U. S. Consulate to solve the crime.

At the hearing, the defence also referred to the lack of evidence, which would not amount to a 20-year sentence for murder, but rather a 12-year sentence for homicide, and considered that robbery with violence, which resulted in a sentence of three years' imprisonment, should be dismissed or replaced by theft, since the convicted person might have obtained the victim's money after her death.

In its decision, the TSJCyL understands that, together with the defendant's initial confession, the jury stated that it based its decision on evidence such as the forensic report, the conclusions of which fully agree with the guilty party's statement, and corroborate it.

Regarding the discovery of the body, it is stated that this occurred because the convicted person knew where the body was, and he indicated it, without forgetting that the police and forensic experts also confirmed the previous provisional burial that the accused described, and the amputation of the hands.

The High Court therefore considers that it can only be concluded that the Court's judgments on the conviction are not without a reasonable basis.

The people's jury found Muñoz Blas guilty of murder by a majority of its members (eight to one), while the crime of robbery with violence was unanimously convicted.

Muñoz Blas initially acknowledged that he had killed the pilgrim before the Astorga judge who investigated the case, but months later changed his version and during the trial [*] he said that he made it all up by feeling pressured by the police when he was arrested on September 11, 2015 in Grandas de Salime (Asturias).

The American peregrina disappeared on April 5, 2015, the day on which she sent an e-mail to a friend in which she greeted "from Astorga" and announced her intention to follow her route to El Ganso, both Jacobean towns in León.

It was the last news of her until, on September 11 of that year, the defendant led the police hours after being detained in Asturias to the place where the body was, about 2.5 kilometers from his home, in a place of difficult access between the towns of Santa Catalina de Somoza and San Martin de Agostedo.

According to the defendant's admission before the investigating judge, he killed her that same day because she caused him "madness" by perceiving that the peregrina "gave him a disapproving look".

Denise Pikka Thiem, single and childless, was 41 years old when she was killed and of Asian origin.


BBM



* "during the trial he said that he made it all up by feeling pressured by the police" ..... this happened earlier. During the trial he remained silent.

 

[ZaZara]

THE TSJ REJECTS THE APPEAL OF THE ASSASSIN OF PILGRIM DENISE AND CONFIRMS THE SENTENCE


El Bierzo
https://www.infobierzo.com/el-tsj-d...na-denise-pikka-y-confirma-su-condena/342479/

The Civil and Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Castilla y León has dismissed the appeal filed by the murderer of the pilgrim Denise Pikka and has confirmed the sentence imposed by the Provincial Court of León of 20 years' imprisonment, as well as the payment of the costs of the trial, according to information from the judicial body.

The accused, Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas, was sentenced by the Provincial Court of León to 23 years' imprisonment as the material perpetrator of the murder of the peregrina. The ruling imposed a sentence of 20 years for killing American women near Castrillo de los Polvazares, in the province of León, and three years for robbery with violence. His defense pleaded that the trial should be annulled and that his sentence should be reduced for not seeing "malice in his actions.


According to the judgement, the first argument put forward by the appeal cannot be accepted 'because it was already properly dismissed' by the Court in February of this year as' the outcome of a preliminary ruling'. The same applies to the second argument.

The verdict recalls that the jury declared that they had considered "his own statements" made by M. A. M. B. as a fundamental element of conviction to consider proven the majority of the determining facts of the guilt of the accused.
The verdict further argues that "the evidence has not been contested as such or as to its content in the course of the trial, and there can be no objection in this case to the allegation that the defendant's confession is no longer the main evidence."

Along with the defendant's confession, the judicial body acknowledged that the jury stated that it had examined, in order to prove each of the facts subject to its verdict,"other elements of conviction" such as the forensic report in the case of the dynamics of the aggression and the cause of death; and with regard to the discovery of the body, the circumstance that it occurred because the defendant knew where it was located, and indicated it, without forgetting that the police and the forensics confirmed the earlier provisinional burial that the accused had described.

All of these aspects "do not lack a reasonable basis for the court's pronouncements regarding the defendant's conviction as the perpetrator of the victim's death".

The Provincial Court of León condemned M. A. M. B. last April. as the material perpetrator of the murder of the pilgrim Denise Pikka in April 2015, in a ruling sentencing him to 20 years for killing American women near Castrillo de los Polvazares and three years for robbery with violence.


BBM


The legal points mentioned here are interesting, and IMHO very valuable for the next appeal - assuming the defense counsel does not give up.

 

[notmyshoephone]

A relief for her family!
I hope that this was the last appeal. It must be agonizing for them that this keeps dragging on and on.

 

[ZaZara]

A relief for her family!
I hope that this was the last appeal. It must be agonizing for them that this keeps dragging on and on.

BBM


There are at elast two more options for appeal, namely the Spanish Superior Court and the European Court for Human Rights.
IMHO the defense counsels are building their case for the European Court, claiming that MAMB's human rights werre violated: presumption of innocence, arbitrariness during the investigation, political motivation and the fact that he offered to lead the police to the body after the helicopter flight is presented as an interrogation without the presence of a counsellor. He would also have confessed without being assisted by a lawyer, and this confession would have been the only basis for conviction.

The Superior Court of Castilla end León slams it all. Without conceding one millimetre. As all the lower Courts have done, before and after the trial.

IMHO Denise's family and friends can be confident about the future. One, the perpetrator will continue the appeals, and two, he will lose them all.



:jail:

 

[ZaZara]

DENISE'S MURDERER TO APPEAL HIS SENTENCE AT THE SUPREME COURT

Diario de León
http://www.diariodeleon.es/noticias...sino-denise-recurre-pena-supremo_1191235.html

The defense of Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas, who was convicted of the murder of the American pilgrim Denise Pikka Thiem, will take the case to the Supreme Court, after the Civil and Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice (TSJ) of Castilla y León rejected the seven grounds of appeal against the sentence imposed by the Provincial Court of León this April. The Supreme Court of Justice orders the appellant to pay the costs of the appeal, and upholds the sentence imposed on Muñoz Blas of 20 years' imprisonment for murder and 3 for violently robbing his victim.

The appeal of Muñoz Blas' lawyers - Vicente Prieto, who assisted him during the investigation of the case and during the oral hearing, has been joined by the criminal lawyer Emilio Daniel Cortés Bechiarelli - is based on the violation of the fundamental rights of the accused, the violation of his presumption of innocence, as well as a violation of law insofar as the defense denies that it is a homicide, describes as theft the robbery with violence and observes psychic alteration in their client

The judgement of the Supreme Court of Justice warns at the beginning of the examination of each one of the grounds of appeal about their difficult adaptability to the legal challenges stipulated for appeal in the Criminal Procedure Law.

This is the case with the nullity of certain evidence obtained through "violating the fundamental rights and freedoms" of the accused, which had already been analysed by the Civil and Criminal Division of the Supreme Court before the oral hearing was held - an argument rejected by order of 14 February 2017 - and therefore this "cannot be reproduced in the oral trial as a means of defence", according to the procedure established in the Organic Law of the Court of Justice.

The same is said to be true of the violation of the right to the presumption of innocence, which also "constituted another of the questions prior to the trial," referred to in the order cited above.

The report goes on to say that the jury neither violated the defendant's presumption of innocence by estimating his confession, as this was not denied in court, and, on the other hand, led to "the discovery of irrefutable evidence of the crime", such as those provided by forensics and other witnesses, for instance the person who changed the dollars that the defendant stole from the peregrina.

Nor is a psychic alteration of the accused accepted, because the jury considered it proven "that he was in full possession of his mental faculties".


BBM


:coffeews: Oh well, so it's another appeal....

 

[ZaZara]

JUDGES OF THE SECOND CHAMBER OF THE SUPREME COURT MEET TO DELIBERATE ON THE CASSATION APPEAL BY THE DEFENSE OF MIGUEL ANGEL MUÑOZ, CONVICTED MURDERER OF PILGRIM DENISE

https://www.telecinco.es/elprograma...cion-peregrina-Denise-Thiem_2_2516355083.html

With video of the reconstruction of the crime


Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas, confessed killer of the American pilgrim who died from a severe blunt-force trauma to the head in April 2015. The images of Miguel Ángel reconstructing the facts are shocking. The normalcy and the smile that appears at times on his face as he tells the story of how he hid her body are deeply disturbing.

Today the Supreme Court is deliberating whether to uphold the 23-year sentence, although everything indicates that the confessed killer will have to serve his sentence.


BBM


The Supreme Court of Castile and Leon ratified last September the ruling of the Provincial Court of León, which sentenced the perpetrator to 23 years' imprisonment.

 

[ZaZara]

SUPREME COURT DELIBERATES APPEAL OF MIGUEL ÁNGEL MUÑOZ BLAS


Diario de León
http://www.diariodeleon.es/noticias/provincia/ts-estudia-recurso-asesino-denise-thiem_1227404.html


Although it could still take several weeks before the final decision is known, the Supreme Court (TS) deliberated yesterday on the appeal of Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas' defense against the conviction that was imposed upon him for the murder of the American pilgrim Denise Pikka Thiem, in Castrillo de los Polvazares, when she tried to return to the route of the Camino de Santiago. The ruling will put a definitive end to the trial.

The Provincial Court ordered Muñoz Blas, who was able to conceal the body between April and September 2015, to serve a sentence of 20 years' imprisonment for aggravated homicide and three years' imprisonment for another crime of robbery with violence. The High Court of Justice (TSJ) of Castilla y León confirmed the sentence following arguments on which this instance had already decided before the hearing, before the Jury Court.

As Muñoz Blas's lawyer Vicente Prieto had already announced, the appeal to the Supreme Court included the arguments rejected by the Supreme Court in September, fundamentally, the violation of the fundamental rights of the defendant's right to be presumed innocent, the nullity with which, in his opinion, certain evidence was obtained, the denial that in the death of the Pilgrim there was malice aforethought as well as the classification of theft for robbery with violence. He added the psychological alteration that the defence experts observed in his client. The lawyer has already presented these arguments during the hearing.

Prieto pointed out that he did not expect the Supreme Court of Justice to accept his arguments in the appeal, having already pronounced on some of these in the pretrial matters and announced that he would add some new arguments before the Supreme Court.

Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas is serving his sentences in the prison of Navalcarnero, where he has taken up his compulsory schooling again after his arrest.


BBM


Would this indeed be the definitive end of the trial? If the appeal is declined, the road to the European Court of Human Rights is open.


:jail: :jail: :jail:

 

[ZaZara]

SUPREME COURT CONFIRMS 23-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE IMPOSED ON MIGUEL ÁNGEL MUÑOZ BLAS


El Pais
https://politica.elpais.com/politica/2018/03/26/actualidad/1522061248_921281.html

The Supreme Court confirmed on Monday the 23-year prison sentence imposed on Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas for the murder on April 5, 2015 of the American pilgrim Denise Pikka Thiem in the vicinity of Astorga (León). The Second Chamber of the High Court dismissed the defendant's appeal in cassation against the judgement of the High Court of Justice of Castilla y León, which in turn upheld the decision of a jury of the Provincial Court of León. Muñoz Blas, 42 years old, was sentenced in 2017 to 20 years for murder and three years for robbery with violence, since after beating the Pilgrim MTA to death he appropriated her belongings, including 1,132 dollars.

The defendant's appeal argued before the Supreme Court that his fundamental right to the presumption of innocence in respect of the malice aforethought had been violated, which they understood to have been considered concurrent in the case on the basis of conjecture and not evidence. The high court dismissed the allegation and noted that the jury affirmed the concurrence of the allegation on the basis of the physical disproportion between the accused and the victim, the conditions of the place where the assault took place, as well as the dynamics of the perpetration of the assault, delivering a severe blow to the head as described by the expert evidence referring to the injuries sustained.

"It is evident that the intensity of the blow, in an inhospitable open field, without the presence of people and without the possibility of defense, allows for the declaration as a fact that the written terms to which the aggravation of malice is applicable characterize this homicide," the Supreme Court judges have indicated in their ruling.


BBM


:jail: :jail: :jail: