The popular jury, after several days of deliberation, unanimously declared Jesús Martínez Sánchez, 60, guilty of the murder of Conchi Ortega, 63, owner of the historic Vistebien shop in Plaza de Tirso de Molina in Madrid. In their sentence the jurors rejected the mitigating factor of drug addiction advanced by the defense to reduce the sentence of the self-confessed perpetrator of the crime. The trial, which began on November 3, was therefore considered to be decided in the absence of the investigating judge who presides over the chamber that establishes the sentence.
The facts judged date back to 3 July 2023 when, as confirmed by the premises’ security cameras, around 1.15pm, Jesús Martínez entered with his friend Estrella García San Román, 58 years old, into the shop in Conchi Ortega: Vistebien. After having had a brief conversation with her, the defendant attacked her with a knife which he pulled from his right trouser pocket. His partner, Estrella García, would have fled into the street when she witnessed the scene of violence, but the jury found her guilty of robbery and concealment and sentenced her to the maximum sentence of three years without considering any mitigating circumstances.
The prosecution, represented by the lawyer Nuria Zapico, cited the aggravating circumstance of betrayal of the crime, since Conchi was attacked by surprise from behind and had no opportunity to defend herself; and also that of cruelty, because his killer stabbed him a total of six times, once directly in the heart and the others in the neck. Both aggravating circumstances were unanimously considered in the jury’s verdict.
The Prosecutor’s Office, which asked that the aggravating circumstance of betrayal be also considered, asked for 30 years for Sánchez and three for his partner for an alleged cover-up, despite the accused exempting her from any responsibility.
The jury also unanimously found Sánchez guilty of robbery with a firearm in a public place.
Drug effects
The defendant’s defense, which recognized the facts, argued that his volitional abilities were impaired due to the effect of drugs and alcohol and that he suffered from other types of mental disorders, and requested that the facts be classified as murder, with a reduction of one or two degrees of crime due to these mitigating circumstances.
For its part, the defendant’s defense denied having committed a crime of “cover-up” because, her lawyer specified, Estrella García was completely unaware of Jesús Sánchez’s intentions and, when she learned what had happened – “the next day” -, she found herself in the grip of an “insurmountable fear” which prevented her from reporting the facts to the police. The versions of the two accused coincided.
Since his arrest, Jesús Martínez has been in provisional prison, while Estrella García was released a few days after the arrest, on August 2, 2023.
