Crime Of Cuenca
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The crime of Cuenca consisted of a series of judicial miscarriages and police misconduct that involved
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
and prison sentences for the defendants, for a crime that never existed. The alleged crime related to the disappearance of a shepherd in the
province of Cuenca Cuenca is one of the five provinces of the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha. It is located in the eastern part of this autonomous community and covers 17,141 square km. It has a population of 203,841 inhabitants -- the least populated of ...
, Spain, in 1910.Pérez Bustamante, Rogelio

"El crimen de Cuenca" Retrieved on January 13, 2009.


Background

In 1910, José María Grimaldos López, a 28-year-old
shepherd A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...
from Tresjuncos, went missing. He was nicknamed ''El Cepa'' (the stump), apparently due to his low height and lack of intelligence. He worked at the farm of Francisco Antonio Ruiz, and was constantly mocked by the farm manager, León Sánchez, and also by the security guard Gregorio Valero. On August 20, 1910, Grimaldos sold a number of sheep belonging to him; subsequently, he disappeared. Subsequently, it was found that he had gone to bathe at La Celadilla, a shallow lagoon where bathers covered themselves in mud reputed to have curative properties. La Celadilla is located in the municipality of El Pedernoso about from the town. After several weeks of Grimaldos' disappearance, rumours started to spread around the village about his possible murder, with the assumption that he was murdered by someone who wanted to steal the money he had earned from the sheep sale. His family knew about the taunts that Grimaldos received—as he always talked about them at home—so decided to file a complaint over the disappearance in the court of Belmonte, accusing Sánchez and Valero of being the suspected perpetrators of the alleged crime. The two were arrested and put on trial; in September 1911, the case was dismissed. After the interrogation of the detainees, the summary of evidence was heard and the judge released the defendants due to the lack of evidence.


New prosecution and imprisonment

In 1913, at the insistence of the Grimaldos' relatives, the case was reopened. With the arrival in town of a new judge, Emilio Isasa Echenique, Grimaldos' family reported the case again. Once again an arrest warrant was served on the same suspects. The
Civil Guard Civil Guard refers to various policing organisations: Current * Civil Guard (Spain), Spanish gendarmerie * Civil Guard (Israel), Israeli volunteer police reserve * Civil Guard (Brazil), Municipal law enforcement corporations in Brazil Histori ...
began torturing and mistreating the detainees to obtain confessions from the defendants and to discover what they had done with the missing corpse. On November 11, 1913, when following the judge of Belmonte's order, the judge of Osa de la Vega certified the death stating that José María Grimaldos López, native of Tresjuncos, died on August 21, 1910, between 8.30 pm and 9.00 pm, murdered by Gregorio Valero and León Sánchez. The record reflects note in the margin: "The body could not be identified because it has not been found". In 1918, after being in prison for four and a half years, the trial began against the defendants with a summary filled with contradictions and unclarified aspects. The trial ended with a sentence that condemned the defendants to 18 years of prison by order of the
Provincial Court The provincial and territorial courts in Canada are local trial "inferior" or "lower" courts of limited jurisdiction established in each of the provinces and territories of Canada. These courts typically hear criminal, civil (or “small claims ...
. The court who sentenced the defendants deliberated for thirty minutes, and the twelve members composing the jury judged them responsible for the death of Grimaldos. The defendants managed to avoid the
death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
, as the
garrote A garrote or garrote vil (a Spanish word; alternative spellings include garotte and similar variants''Oxford English Dictionary'', 11th Ed: garrotte is normal British English spelling, with single r alternate. Article title is US English spellin ...
was then still in use at the time. Valero served time in the prison of San Miguel de los Reyes in
Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
, whereas Sánchez served his sentence in the prison of Cartagena.


Reprieve

On July 4, 1925, they left jail after serving 12 years and two months of their sentence, as a consequence of two decrees of pardon.


Reappearance of José María Grimaldos

On February 8, 1926, the priest of Tresjuncos received a letter from the priest of the municipality of Mira (113 km/70 miles away), who requested the
baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
certificate of José María Grimaldos in order to celebrate his marriage. The priest of Tresjuncos, astonished by the news, decided not to respond to the priest of Mira. After some time, José María Grimaldos became impatient with the delay to his marriage and set off for Tresjuncos. When he showed up in the village, the villagers could not believe what they saw. The judge of Belmonte then interceded and ordered the arrest of the man. Within hours, the press released the news and it had a huge impact on public opinion. After the indisputable identification of Grimaldos, the Minister of Grace and Justice ordered the retrial of the case and ordered the
prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...
of the
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
to appeal for revision against the sentence of the hearing of Cuenca. On the aforementioned order it is noted that "there are reasonable grounds to believe that the confession of Valero and Sánchez, essential basis of their convictions, were extracted under exceptional continuous violence".


Aftermath

The Supreme Court declared the ruling issued in Cuenca in 1918 void. As well as establishing Sánchez and Valero's innocence, the supreme court established the nullity of José María Grimaldos' death certificate, and established the corresponding compensations that the State had to pay to the prisoners in such cases. A trial was held of those held responsible for the miscarriage of justice. Sánchez and Valero moved to
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
; there, they were offered jobs as security guards in the
city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
.


In literature and theater

The writer Alicio Garcitoral, Cuenca's Civil Governor at the time these events occurred, wrote the social novel ''El Crimen de Cuenca'' (1932) reprinted with prologue and edition by José Esteban in 1981. Some time later, the well-known writer
Ramón J. Sender Ramón José Sender Garcés (3 February 1901 – 16 January 1982) was a Spanish novelist, essayist and journalist. Several of his works were translated into English by the distinguished zoologist, Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell, including ''Seven ...
wrote the novel ''El lugar de un hombre'' (1939). The writer Luis Esteso y López de Haro, native of San Clemente, Cuenca, wrote some four-lined stanzas with the name ''El Crimen de Cuenca'', which were edited in one of his numerous collections (Madrid, G. Hernández and Galo Sáez, 1927).
Pilar Miró Pilar Mercedes Miró Romero (20 April 1940 in Madrid – 19 October 1997 in Madrid) was a Spanish screenwriter and film director. She was the General Director of RTVE from 1986 to 1989. In the 1990s, she directed the television broadcasts of th ...
, the producer, made a film in 1979 entitled '' The Crime of Cuenca''; it was scripted by Lola Salvador Maldonado, who also narrates the facts in a book published with the same name by the editorial Argos Vergara. The film makes a strong plea against
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
and it is perfectly understood that the
crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...
the title refers to is the one committed by the
Civil Guard Civil Guard refers to various policing organisations: Current * Civil Guard (Spain), Spanish gendarmerie * Civil Guard (Israel), Israeli volunteer police reserve * Civil Guard (Brazil), Municipal law enforcement corporations in Brazil Histori ...
when torturing the suspects. The mathematician Carlos Maza Gómez also studies the case in his book ''Crímenes'' in 1926.


See also

*
Forced disappearance An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organiza ...
* List of solved missing person cases * Perverting the course of justice *
Presumption of innocence The presumption of innocence is a legal principle that every person accused of any crime is considered innocent until proven guilty. Under the presumption of innocence, the legal burden of proof is thus on the prosecution, which must present com ...


Notes


References

{{Reflist


Bibliography

*Ángel Luis López Villaverde
''El crimen de Cuenca en treinta artículos: antología periodística del error judicial''
University of Castilla–La Mancha The University of Castilla–La Mancha (UCLM) is a Spanish university. It offers courses in the cities of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Toledo, Almadén and Talavera de la Reina. This university was recognised by law on 30 June 1982, and began t ...
, 2010. 1910 in Spain Missing person cases in Spain Murder convictions without a body Overturned convictions in Spain Torture in Spain