A popular jury has found José J., nicknamed 'Dinamita Montilla', guilty this Friday, and unanimously, of the murder of a young man in the Montes de Málaga in 2022 and the theft of his personal belongings. Likewise, it has declared him responsible for a crime of illegal possession of weapons.
After the verdict was announced, the Public Prosecutor's Office reiterated its request for a total of 26 years in prison for the three crimes, while the private prosecution, acting on behalf of the deceased's family, has increased its request to 31 years in prison. The specific sentence will be determined in the judgment issued by the presiding judge of the Jury Court.
The jury has established that the accused went to the young man's family farm carrying a shotgun and had a brief conversation with him while he was collecting carob beans. Later, he was again "surprised by the presence" of the accused, who "had followed him".
Once the victim's "situation of loneliness and helplessness" was ascertained, the accused, "unexpectedly", shot him with the shotgun at close range, preventing any effective defense. It has also been proven that, after the fatal shot, he stole his belongings.
The guilty verdict is based on the set of investigations carried out, especially on the analysis of biological remains to identify DNA, as well as on testimonial evidence. Furthermore, the jury members have expressly rejected the granting of clemency or sentence review measures.
During the trial, the accused denied having killed the young man and having been at the scene of the crime, and maintained that his involvement could be due to "a setup" because he was "critical on social media against justice, the monarchy, religion, and politics". "That is the only crime I committed," he added.
This murder would be added to the criminal record attributed to him. 'Dinamita Montilla' had already been sentenced to more than 120 years in prison for four homicides committed in the province of Málaga between 1985 and 1987. However, he obtained definitive release in December 2013, when the maximum effective sentence for accumulation was set at 30 years.
Advances in the methods of the Scientific Police were decisive in tracing the biological traces found at the crime scene of this young man and linking them to the accused.