The Provincial Court of A Coruña plans to hold the trial with a Jury Court between June 1 and 19 against three young men who are held responsible for the death of Yoel Quispe, 22 years old, who died after being stabbed on Christmas Eve 2023 in the city of A Coruña.
The Prosecutor's Office requests 14 years in prison for homicide for the only one of the investigated individuals who remains in preventive detention and asks for dismissal for the other two, while the victim's family has maintained from the beginning that all three should stand trial for murder.
Regarding the degree of participation, the private prosecution considers the young man in prison to be the material perpetrator of the murder and a necessary co-perpetrator to the one who, according to this party, "carried the knife and provided it" to the first, also attributing involvement to a third accused.
The order of procedure also reflects this thesis, by holding the alleged perpetrator of the fatal stab wound responsible for a murder offense; the second, as a necessary co-perpetrator, and the third, as an accessory after the fact. This implies a significant increase in penalties: up to 25 years in prison for the first two, according to the family's lawyer, and three years for the third.
The defense has been requesting the dismissal of the case. However, in the judicial resolution, the investigating judge ordered the opening of oral proceedings, with a Jury Court, for murder, as the family argued, and not for homicide, as the Public Ministry proposed for one of the defendants.
Previous conviction for assault on two other involved parties
In a separate case for these same events, two young men accused of having beaten the victim accepted a sentence of nine months in prison a few weeks ago, in a trial at Penal Court number 3 of A Coruña, with the commitment of suspension if they do not reoffend and satisfy the established civil liability.
Initially, the Prosecutor's Office requested one year in prison for each of them for an assault that occurred around 06:30 on December 24, 2023, at the intersection of Sinfónica de Galicia and Juan Flórez streets in A Coruña.
In the context of a "brawl," according to the Public Ministry, the two convicted individuals attacked the deceased young man "with repeated punches and kicks" until they caused him, among other injuries, "head trauma." Yoel died hours later as a result of the fatal stab wound attributed to the only accused who remains in prison.
Following an agreement of conformity between all parties involved -- the Prosecutor's Office, the private prosecutions brought by the victim's father and mother, and the defenses --, the two young men accepted a sentence of nine months in prison for a crime of injury, down from the initial request of one year, as well as the payment of 1,500 euros in civil liability.