Three women found guilty over shooting of León politician

Three women accused of planning, executing and covering up the murder of a conservative politician from León on May 12, 2014 were found guilty on Saturday.

A popular jury unanimously found that Montserrat González and her daughter Triana Martínez conspired to kill Isabel Carrasco, a powerful and controversial Popular Party (PP) official who headed  the León provincial government.

A friend of the daughter’s, a local policewoman named Raquel Gago, was considered an accessory to the crime because she “accepted being part of the plan” by concealing the murder weapon inside her car for 26 hours.

The jury harbored no doubts that Montserrat González shot Isabel Carrasco three times with a revolver on a footbridge

The jurors, five men and four women, reached their verdict after three days of deliberation. At 1pm on Saturday, the three defendants entered the Provincial Court of León to hear the decision following the end of the trial, which began on January 18 to wide media attention.

The jury harbored no doubts that Montserrat González shot Isabel Carrasco three times with a revolver on a footbridge over the Bernesga River, in León, at 5.15pm on May 12, 2014.

She did so “out of hatred” for the head of the provincial authority, whom she believed to be “unfairly persecuting” her own daughter Triana, professionally and personally.

González admitted the facts on the first day of the trial, asserting that “it was either my daughter or her.”

“I have no regrets. I am convinced that if I hadn’t done it, I would have ended up going to my own daughter’s funeral,” she said at the time.

The jurors had a harder time establishing the role played by 36-year-old Triana, but ultimately decided that she “devised a plan” in conjunction with her mother to rid themselves of Carrasco, and that they shared out the roles.

In court, Triana revealed that the 59-year-old Carrasco “hurt” her professionally and financially after the latter’s sexual advances during the Christmas holidays of 2010 got nowhere. This refusal by Triana, a telecommunications engineer, allegedly cost her a position that Carrasco had created specifically for her at the provincial council.

Triana, the jury found, tracked Carrasco’s activities and movements, searched for firearms online, and followed her around to rehearse the crime. On May 12, she made arrangements with her mother to pick up the handbag containing the murder weapon just minutes after the shooting. The jury found her role “essential.”

As for the policewoman Raquel Gago, the jury was more divided, but seven members found that she “was aware of the homicidal intentions” of her friend Triana and the latter’s mother, and “agreed to be part of the plan.” Gago concealed the revolver inside her own car for 26 hours, then sought to divert suspicion from herself by telling a fellow policeman that she had just found the weapon inside the trunk. Her participation was considered proven, though not essential to the crime.

The jury ruled out the claims of mental derangement made by the mother and the policewoman’s defense lawyers.

Now that the jury has turned in a guilty verdict, prosecuting attorney Emilio Fernández is closer to achieving his request of a total of 22 years behind bars for Montserrat and Triana. The prosecutor has taken into account the fact that both women have deposited €77,602 to compensate the victim’s daughter and partner. As for Raquel Gago, prosecutors are seeking a 15-year prison term.

English version by Susana Urra.