Remember Daniel Alberto Mora Monge? He was the driver behind the wheel of a Mustang to who on the week hours of January 29, 2017, in Curridabat, ran over and killed four cyclists.
On February 26 last, Mora was sentenced to seven years in prison for killing Lucía del Carmen Mata Durán. The families of the other three cyclists, Mario Enrique Retana Pérez (49 años), Lenin Manrique Ortiz Quesada (46) and Pablo Enrique Alcócer Alcócer (54), settled out of court. The details of the agreement were not made public.
According to article 35 of the Criminal Procedure Code, when there is conciliation, the Court will declare the criminal action extinguished.
Since, the 34-year-old man was being held at the Centro de Atención Institucional (CAI) San José, known as the San Sebastián jail.
But nevertheless; On July 10, the Court of Appeals of the Second Judicial Circuit of San José (Tribunal de Apelación del Segundo Circuito Judicial de San José) ordered to review the sentence, so his lawyer, José Pablo Badilla, requested a change of preventive measure (detention) for his client while waiting for the sentence to be firmed up.
On Friday, the Tribunal de Juicio del Segundo Circuito Judicial de San José, my a majority ruled that Mora would be released to house arrest, wear an ankle monitor and sign in every 15 days at the courthouse, surrender his passport, remain in Costa Rica, and have a fixed address while the appeals court reviews the case.
Voting in favor of the change in preventive measures where judges José María Arguedas and Alexánder Salazar, while judge José Pablo Alvarado voted for Mora to remain in jail.
The new preventive measures are for a period of 6 months, during which time he can only leave his residence, in Curridabat, to go to work in Tibias, the courthouse or in the event necessary, a medical center.
For his part, Manuel Campos, lawyer for Jenaro Mata Zamora, 83, and Clara Durán Marín (77), Lucia’s parents, told La Nación that they respect the decision of the judges, but do not share it.
Lucía Mata, 38, died at the Calderón Guardia Hospital on March 21, 2017, almost two months after being run over by Mora, who was behind the wheel when he rammed into Mata and her three cyclist friends. The incident occurred at 4:11 am. Mora fled the scene and was arrested hours later at his home.
