The São Paulo courts upheld the conviction of expert Helio Rodrigues Ramaccioti, who worked on the investigation into the plane crash that killed, in 2015, the son of the then governor of São Paulo and now vice president of the Republic, Geraldo Alckmin (PSB).
Ramaccioti was sentenced to three years, one month and ten days in prison for violating article 342 of the Penal Code, which is the crime of false testimony or false expert testimony. He had been sentenced in the first instance on March 27 by judge Carolina Hispagnol Marchi, of the district of Carapicuíba.
The expert’s defense appealed, but the request was denied last week by Judge Marcelo Gordo, of the Court of Justice of São Paulo. The prison sentence, in an open regime, was maintained.
According to the case, “the accused made several false statements, as an expert, in the police investigation” that was investigating the causes of the accident, “in order to obtain evidence intended to produce an effect in criminal proceedings”.
The judge states in the ruling that the “falsehoods pointed out” by Ramaccioti, “combined with other errors in the criminal investigation, almost changed the course of the investigation, even resulting in the undue indictment of people”.
The process also highlights that there was the “insertion of information about exams which the defendant [Ramaccioti] did not participate, which was discovered because, after comparing the report issued by the defendant and the report prepared by the Air Force, it was found that the first was a copy of the latter, according to the table drawn up indicating the coincidences in wording”.
The judge also said: “In particular, the concept of intent, since it is not admissible to enter into the agent’s core, must be drawn from objective elements that are clearly unfavorable to him, especially because, as an experienced expert, he made statements that are not in line with the truth and was unable to present plausible explanations. Conversely, eyewitness testimony at the time of the reproduction of the technical tests identified a refractory posture on the part of the appellant and even a certain degree of resignation with the questions that were raised about his work.”
“When questioned in court”, the expert “asserted that he had not made any erroneous statement or one lacking any technical or scientific basis, nor had he done so in 27 (twenty-seven) years of work, whether as a criminal expert or as an engineer”.
What does the expert’s defense say?
In a statement, the defense says that “Helio Rodrigues Ramaciotti has been a criminal expert for almost 30 years, being recognized for his competence, integrity and unquestionable professional capacity” and that “the provisional decision of the Court of Justice of São Paulo challenges not only the evidence in the records, the word of the various experts heard in the process, but, above all, the convergent report of CENIPA [Centro de Investigação e Prevenção de Acidentes Aeronáuticos]the highest body and composed of experts from the Brazilian Air Force, whose conclusion was identical”
“We emphasize that there are still numerous possible appeals to be filed, where we will seek justice and recognition of our client’s full innocence.”
The accident
The EC 155 B1 helicopter, registration PP-LLS, belonged to the company Seripatri and crashed on April 2, 2015 in Carapicuíba, in Greater São Paulo.
In addition to Thomaz Alckmin, Geraldo Alckmin’s son, four other people died in the plane crash:
- Carlos Haroldo Esquerdo Gonçalves (pilot)
- Paulo Henrique de Moraes (mechanic)
- Leandro de Souza Santos (mechanic’s assistant)
- Erick Canhabate Martinho (mechanical inspector)
This content was originally published in TJ-SP upholds conviction of expert for lying in report on accident that killed Alckmin’s son on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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