Mérida, Yucatán --
Four men who are suspects in the murder of former Pennsylvania resident Robert Leo Wickard appeared in criminal court today.
A judge ordered that Martín Alejandro Gómez Gómez, 26, Gianri Lorenzo Matos Montalvo, 18, Edward Jesús Gamboa Salas, 36 and David Wilfrido Pérez Morán, 26, be held for 30 days while their case is further investigated. The detention can be extended at the request of prosecutors. A fifth suspect, Angel Javier Segovia Domínguez, remains at large.
Gómez Gómez, originally from Veracruz and one of the two men whom police believe stabbed Wickard, gave his occupation as prostitute. Matos Montalvo listed himself as a sales agent, Gamboa Salas, who is from Yucatán, reported himself an office worker and Pérez Morán said he is unemployed.
Gómez Gómez told that court that Wickard, whom he described as a "homosexual," was killed a few days before May 13. Wickard's body was unearthed in an interior garden of his rented Mérida residence in the San Sebastian neighborhood on May 25. One of the suspects reported that a sudden argument erupted, they struck Wickard in the face and then stabbed him with a sharp instrument several times.
In a collateral proceeding an attorney representing Pérez Morán filed legal documents requesting that evidence against him be excluded, or that the charges be dismissed and he be released. The tactic, known as amparo under Mexican law, is commonly used but is by no means commonly successful. Pérez Morán maintains he was unable to communicate with his counsel and that he was mistreated while in law enforcement custody. A different judge will rule later on the separate amparo claims.
If there is a trial in this case it will be subject to recently implemented procedures designed to resemble American and British criminal proceedings. The reformed system, now being implemented throughout Mexico, replaces archaic "paper trials" with live hearings where witnesses must testify in person and defendants enjoy a legal presumption of innocence. Yucatán - and all of Mexico - about to get a major legal facelift with "oral trials."
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Arraigan a presuntos homicidas de extranjero gay: http://sipse.com/noticias/159266-merida-arraigan-presuntos-homicidas-extranjero-.html.
Mérida: tras la pista del asesino material de un extranjero gay: http://sipse.com/noticias/159023-merida-tras-pista-asesino-material-extranjero-.html .
Detienen a homicidas: http://www.poresto.net/ver_nota.php?zona=yucatan&idSeccion=6&idTitulo=168911.
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