The first day of the trial of the military police officers accused of the death of businessman Antônio Vinícius Gritzbach was marked by an intense verbal clash and threats to abandon the plenary session at the Guarulhos Forum.
The conflict escalated when the defendants’ defense accused the Public Prosecutor’s Office of “cynicism” upon discovering that the criminal expert appointed by the prosecution had prior access to confidential defense documents.
Tension reached its peak after the prosecutor suggested that the lawyers were speaking in tune with the “gang of criminals”, which generated immediate protests and interruptions in the session.
Accusation of “gambling” and access to reports
The controversy began during the testimony of expert Leandro, a professor at the Police Academy, who admitted having met with the prosecution before the Jury Trial began.
According to the defense, the expert had access to the technical opinion of the defendants’ assistants while the process was still under secrecy, which would constitute a procedural “play” to anticipate defensive strategies.
Lawyers Renato Soares and Cláudio Dalledone Júnior raised a point of order, claiming that the impartiality of the technical evidence was compromised.
In response, the prosecution defended the legality of the meeting, which triggered the exchange of insults and the prosecutor’s reaction against the defense’s stance.
Gritzbach case trial
In this morning’s trial, they are three military police officers identified as participants in the crime that victimized Gritzbach and app driver Celso Araujo Sampaio de Novais were tried.
Denis Antonio Martins and Ruan Silva Rodrigues would be the perpetrators of the shots that killed the men. Fernando Genauro da Silva is named as the driver of the vehicle used in the murder.
How the Jury Court works
During the trial of the Gritzbach case, 21 witnesses will be heard, nine for the prosecution, one common to the MP and the defendant Juan, two for the defense of the defendant Juan, two for the defense of the defendants Juan and Denis, two for the defense of the defendant Denis and five for the defense of the defendant Fernando.
The initial step for the jury is the draw of jurors. The stage has 25 people who can be selected. Of these, seven are drawn to form the Sentencing Council.
They read the main parts of the process to find out about the case judged. It is the Sentencing Council that decides on the conviction or acquittal of defendants. The judge is only responsible for presiding over the proceedings, carrying out the dosimetry of the sentence in case of conviction and writing the sentence.
From there, the hearings of witnesses begin. Then the defendants are interrogated.
After the interrogation, the debate phase begins, in which representatives of the prosecution and defense present their arguments to the Sentencing Council.
Firstly, it is the prosecution party who has the floor. If there is only one defendant, speaking time is one and a half hours. In the case of two or more defendants, the time is two and a half hours.
Then, it is the turn of the defendants’ defense to speak for the same period of time. However, if there is a reply from the MP, the time is another hour (if there is one defendant) or two hours (if there are two or more defendants) for the accusation and the same time for the defense’s rejoinder.
One of the last steps is when the Sentencing Council meets in the secret room to vote on the questions and decide on the conviction or acquittal of the defendants. Finally, the judge prepares and reads the sentence.
