Mendonça upholds conviction of businessman for the death of 16 people in an accident in SC

Minister André Mendonça, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), maintained the decision of the Jury Court that condemned businessman Gilmar Turatto for the death of 16 people in an accident that occurred on the BR-282 highway, in Santa Catarina, in 2007. appeal filed by the Public Defender of Santa Catarina (DPE-SC) in favor of the convict.

Turatto was a managing partner of the company that owned the runaway truck that hit more than 70 people who were at the scene due to a previous accident. There were firefighters, police, journalists, volunteers, the injured and drivers waiting for the road to be cleared.

According to the denunciation of the Santa Catarina Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP-SC), even knowing about the defect in the truck’s brake system and the excess load, the businessman ordered the driver to continue his trip, thereby assuming the risk of causing the accident.

Turatto was then sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment, in a closed initial regime. In the defense’s appeal judgment, the state court reduced the sentence to 12 years and maintained the other terms of the sentence.

After having habeas corpus rejected by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), the Defender asked the Supreme Court to nullify the judgment by the Jury Court.

In denying the request, Minister André Mendonça cited the grounds adopted by the Court of Justice that the declaration of official mourning for three days in the Municipality of Chapecó does not justify, in itself, the recognition of the jurors’ partiality. The TJ-SC pointed out that the same measure was adopted by the Government of Santa Catarina, with repercussions in all municipalities in the state, and validated the choice of the county of Chapecó as it understood that the juries of the city were able to carry out their duties impartially.

For the minister, there is no illegality in the case, because in order to reach the conclusion of the jurors’ partiality, concrete data is required to support the allegation. “The supposed social upheaval or even the wide dissemination of the facts by the media does not lead, by itself, to the conclusion of the jury’s partiality”, he emphasized.

The minister also dismissed the allegation that the jury’s decision would be contrary to the evidence in the file. In his understanding, the decision was based on a “robust set of evidence”, proving to be inappropriate, due to the sovereignty of the verdicts, the annulment of the conviction formalized by the Jury Court.

CNN contacted the advisory of the Santa Catarina Defender’s Office and is waiting for a statement.