The day Miguel López raffled the abyss

• Theories: All the deaths of Mari Carmen
• The war, family no thanks

Miguel López's agonized transit through his mother-in-law's crime ended yesterday at 5:26 p.m. when the jury spokeswoman pronounced "not guilty" in a sharp and firm voice. Two words that separated the sky from the abyss, the shadow of a 24-year prison of freedom, everything from nothing. The afternoon was untimely. His judicial future, clear. Miguel got lightened up.

Lopez was stuck in the chair, motionless, as unable to assimilate a verdict for which he has been fighting since he was accused of fatally shooting the widow of former CAM president Vicente Sala on December 9, 2016. Crying only He appeared at the exit of the Hall under the shelter of his sister's husband, the unconditional squire who has accompanied him throughout the process, and his closest friends. There was no triumphant exit from the Palace of Justice or from Miguel or his lawyer , Javier Sánchez-Vera. The triumph was as discreet as it was powerful . The lawyer did not want to make statements or abound in the result of his work. Perhaps he considered that the "not guilty" spoke for himself.

Miguel López walked down the street with no concrete direction in search of the car that would take him out of there and take him back to his house, where his surroundings met to celebrate it. His family and friends exploded in tears, shouts and applause upon hearing the verdict . His brother-in-law, Vicente Sala, abruptly left the judicial building in which the murder has been tried in the last four weeks and sprinkled the dire family relations . The verdict accentuated more if it is possible the rupture of the two sides of Sala-Martínez that have long since ceased to be considered family.

The jury appointment seemed never to come after a verdict early Friday night that the magistrate frustrated because she was not motivated enough. The complex equation faced by the six women and three men chosen to rule on Mari Carmen Martínez's crime was cleared 74 hours after they retired to deliberate : three days of heart attack for both Lopez and his lawyer and Vicente Sala and the lawyer who represents him. Also for journalists.

The intensity of the deliberations became tangible first thing yesterday morning when, at half past nine, one of the women of the jury had an anxiety crisis . She was not trained to continue deliberating objectively. The 'crime of the Sala' had defeated her. After the corresponding medical examination, which certified that in that state he could not continue, he was replaced by one of the alternate jurors, a man .

The countdown began; the last stitches of one of the judicial decisions that have raised more expectation in recent years . The morning passed deliberating for the jury and the verdict was ready after lunch. At 5:00 pm, the magistrate-president summoned the parties.

Minutes before, the Palace of Justice was a hotbed of family, friends and journalists . The expectation was maximum. Prosecutor José Llor arrived and after him, Javier Sánchez-Vera, the defense lawyer, with a serious gesture. Miguel entered the courthouse quickly. The last to enter the Chamber was the lawyer of the private prosecution, Francisco Ruiz-Marco. The judge gave way to reading the verdict. The die was cast for Miguel López.

The countenance of Sánchez-Vera relaxed when the spokeswoman gave an account of the votes in relation to the questionnaire subject to the verdict. It was clear that Miguel López was going to be declared not guilty. The lawyer certified it and the press also certified it .

The jury embraced the defense thesis that without direct evidence a guilty verdict cannot be constructed in the face of the accusations effort to legitimize the abundant evidence that was against Lopez.

Thus, the jury understands that it was not the defendant who gave two shots in the head to his mother-in-law the late night of December 9, 2016 in the car wash of the family business he ran.

The accusations - the Prosecutor's Office and the private accusation exerted by Mari Carmen Martínez's son - have always backed the police thesis that Miguel killed his mother-in-law for a matter of power while his defense, over the years, He has censored these theories and presented him as a victim of circumstances.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project