The Rio de Janeiro Court of Justice denied the defense appeal of Navy officer Cristiano da Silva Lacerda, aged 51, and upheld the decision to send the defendant to a popular jury. He was charged with triple homicide for the death of his ex-in-laws, on June 24, 2022, in Jardim Botânico, in the south zone of Rio.
The jury has not yet set a date.
In the trial held this Tuesday (19), in the 1st Criminal Chamber of the Capital, the defense claimed that Cristiano has a “serious history of mental disorder” and that, at the time of the crime, he used controlled medications and alcohol, the combination of which would have caused loss of consciousness.
“After more than two decades of mental health crises, frigate captain Cristiano Lacerda found himself in an anomalous situation: on June 24, 2022, around 11 pm, without any apparent reason capable of justifying or excusing his conduct, the accused committed the tragic double homicide of the couple staying in his apartment, where he lived with his then ex-partner Felipe da Silva Coelho, son of the victims”, argued the defense.
The Public Ministry, however, presented reports indicating that experts attested to the “complete mental health” of the Navy officer.
“Therefore, once the materiality has been fully proven and sufficient evidence of authorship has been collected, as well as there being no cause for exclusion of illegality or guilt fully proven, maintaining the defendant's pronouncement is necessary as a measure of rigor”, says the MP's statement. .
For criminalist Ricardo Sidi, assistant to the prosecution, “the Court decided correctly considering that the psychiatric report and other evidence in the file indicate that the defendant acted with full awareness of what he was doing”.
In September last year, the judge in the case reinforced that the crime occurred through cruel means, “given the multiplicity of knife blows inflicted on the victims, causing them great suffering”.
Circumstances
According to the decision, the crime made it difficult for the victims to defend themselves because, “in theory”, they were attacked by surprise, when they were preparing to go to sleep.
Furthermore, there is the aggravating factor that the crimes were committed against elderly people: Geraldo Pereira Coelho was 73 years old and Osélia da Silva Coelho, 72.
Cristiano Lacerda has been in preventive detention since June 2022, when the crime occurred. CNN awaits a position from the defendant's defense.
Breakup
In court, Felipe da Silva Coelho said that he ended his relationship with Cristiano a few days before the murder.
He was attacked by his then-boyfriend with a punch to the chest. Felipe also said that Cristiano stated that he wanted his ex-boyfriend to die.
According to the victims' son's report, Cristiano sent a message to warn that Felipe's mother was feeling ill. When he arrived home, the son found his parents' bodies on the couch, covered in blood. He then found Cristiano inside a trunk. The suspect had the knife, surrounded by pills and a bottle of whiskey.
*With information from Giovanna Bronze
Source: CNN Brasil
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