In a significant legal reversal, Brazil's 6th Criminal Chamber of the Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice has thrown out the convictions in a high-profile murder case. The court annulled the 2021 jury trial that had found three individuals guilty for the 2017 ambush killing of a 25-year-old university student in Campos dos Goytacazes. This decision has resulted in the immediate release of the defendants, who will now face a new trial.
The core of the court's decision rested on a procedural flaw that compromised the fairness of the original proceedings. During a recess in the July 2021 trial, one of the jurors overheard a conversation between two of the defendants, Igor Magalhães and Wermison Carlos Ribeiro. The discussion involved a reference to a third party, Marcello Henrique Damasceno, who was identified as an intermediary in the crime. This incident was deemed to have tainted the jury's impartiality.
Originally, the trial was split. Magalhães and Ribeiro, identified as the shooters, were tried alongside Luana Barreto de Sales, who was accused of being the mastermind. Damasceno was tried separately months later. The original convictions handed down sentences ranging from 13 to 24 years in prison for the group.
The defense teams appealed the 2021 verdicts, arguing that the juror's exposure to the overheard conversation prejudiced the case. The appeals court has now agreed with this argument. Following the annulment, Luana Barreto de Sales was released from prison last Friday. The two shooters had already been serving their sentences under electronic monitoring. Tragically, one of them, Wermison Carlos Ribeiro, has since died in a motorcycle accident.
The case dates back to August 2017. The victim, Ana Paula Silva Ramos, was shot in the head and chest in the Parque Rio Branco neighborhood. Police investigations revealed the attack was not a random robbery but a premeditated ambush. Authorities stated that Barreto de Sales, the victim's sister-in-law and godmother to her wedding, had orchestrated the murder. The two had known each other since childhood and had planned to go out together on the day of the crime.
The group reportedly met the day before the killing to plan the attack. The case garnered major public attention in the region. With the trial annulled, the legal process resets. The released defendants will await a new jury trial, while Marcello Henrique Damasceno remains imprisoned, awaiting a decision on his own appeal. Based on reporting from g1.