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35 Years For Killing Wife!
The
murder trail of former public
defender, Luis Fernando Burgos,
for killing his wife ended with
the reading of the verdict
yesterday afternoon, where the
three judges of the Tribunal
Penal de San José sentenced
Burgos to 35 years prison for
killing his wife Maureen
Hidalgo.
The court also sentenced Zulay
Rojas, a former girlfriend of
Burgos and former prosecutor,
for covering up the crime,
handing her a 2 year prison
sentence. Rojas won't go to jail
however, as the court suspended
her sentence, giving her a
conditional release for the next
five years.
The court said it rejected the
argument by Burgos who claimed
that his wife was kidnapped and
killed by unknown persons who
were involved in the sale of a
vehicle by his wife.
The court also awarded the
parents of Maureen, Vera Mora
and Miguel Hidalgo, ˘136 million
colones (us$263.500 dollars) in
damages.
On national television last
night, Maureen's mother said she
was pleased with the sentence,
feeling that justice was done.
Asked about the cash award, she
said she would prefer to have
her daughter by her side and not
the money.
The sentence is subject to
appeal. Burgos, however, will
remain in custody during the six
month appeal process.
The courtroom was filled to
capacity to hear the sentence.
Burgos did not think it twice to
remove his wedding ring and hand
it over to his lawyer when the
judges finished reading the
sentence, bringing an end to a
marriage and trial that some
have called it a "telenovela"
(soap opera).
Burgos has claimed his innocence
from the first moment he came
under suspicion after his wife
went missing. He was beside his
in-laws during the ordeal and
attended his wife's funeral
after her body was discovered in
a ditch on the side of the road
near Atenas, southwest of San
José.
The court justices said, in
their judgment, that due to the
lack of hard evidence of the
crime, the testimony of the
witnesses led to the conviction
and that Maureen had been
asphyxiated in the living room
of the couples apartment in
Zapote.
Testimony showed that Burgos was
aggressive and abusive of his
wife as related by those close
to the couple and the couples
domestic help; Maureen lived in
a state of fear and had asked
for help, becoming depressed and
under the influence of
medication, as her husband
exercised total control and
dominated his wife.
The court said it heard
testimony of how Burgos tried to
isolate his wife from friends
and family and that the wedding
had been cancelled on various
occasions because of violent
episodes of the accused and
lived a life filled of domestic
violence once the couple finally
married.
The court said it heard of how
Burgos confessed the murder of
his wife to several people who
came before the court to testify
that Burgos had asked for their
help in disposing of the body
and providing him an alibi. The
justices said that the testimony
was not given to harm Burgos,
but rather, that truth be known. |
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Zulay Rojas, former girlfriend of Burgos
and former prosecutor, got a two year
suspended sentence for helping with the
cover up of the murder.
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