World · Latin America · 3 hrs ago
Brazil’s top court pauses appeals over Boate Kiss prison sentences
Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice paused a review of appeals over the prison sentences of four people convicted in the Boate Kiss fire.
The fire at the nightclub in Santa Maria killed 242 people and injured 636.
The four were convicted by a jury in 2021, but later court decisions changed the status of the verdicts and led to a review of their sentences.
In September, the case’s reporting judge proposed new terms, ranging from 12 years, four months and 15 days to 18 years in prison.
Before the latest pause, one judge proposed 14 years and four months for Elissandro Callegaro Spohr, differing in part from the reporting judge’s approach.
Judge Carlos Pires Brandão requested more time, and the court has not announced when it will resume considering the appeals.
Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice paused its review of appeals related to prison sentences in the Boate Kiss fire case.
The pause came after Justice Carlos Pires Brandão requested more time to examine the case on Tuesday, November 3.
The appeals concern the sentences of four people convicted over the fire, which killed 242 people and injured 636.
The court’s review had already been interrupted once in September after a request by Justice Rogerio Schietti Cruz.
The court has not announced a date for resuming the review.
- Who
- The Superior Court of Justice’s Sixth Panel is reviewing appeals involving four people convicted in the Boate Kiss case.
- What
- The court paused its review of appeals concerning their prison sentences.
- When
- Tuesday, November 3; the year is not specified in the article’s account of the hearing.
- Where
- The Superior Court of Justice in Brazil. The fire occurred in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul.
- Why
- Justice Carlos Pires Brandão requested more time to examine the case.
Justice Rogerio Schietti Cruz
Reporting Justice Nilsoni de Freitas
Penalty calculation
Justice Rogerio Schietti Cruz
Schietti argued that the sentence should be proportionally reduced when an appeal brought only by the defense leads a court to remove a negative sentencing circumstance.
Reporting Justice Nilsoni de Freitas
De Freitas proposed recalculating the sentences, including restoring negative assessments of culpability for two defendants and increasing the assessment of the consequences of the crime for all four.
A jury convicted the four defendants and set their prison sentences.
The Rio Grande do Sul Court of Justice annulled the trial, citing procedural irregularities.
The Superior Court of Justice’s Sixth Panel upheld the annulment.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court restored the validity of the jury trial and convictions.
The reporting justice proposed recalculating the four sentences, and the review was interrupted after Justice Rogerio Schietti Cruz requested more time.
The review was paused again after Justice Carlos Pires Brandão requested more time.
- Deaths
- 242 people
- Injured
- 636 people
- Convicted defendants
- 4
- Fire location
- Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul
- Reviewing court
- Superior Court of Justice, Sixth Panel
- Date for resumption
- Not announced
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