GUILTY Spain - Denise Thiem, 40, U.S. traveler, Astorga, 4 April 2015

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  • #321
NO CHANGES NO BUTTERFLIES: PONFERRADA REMEMBERS PILGRIM DENISE WITH A MURAL PAINTING

Artist Asier creates a work next to the albergue for pilgrims on the occasion of the Day against Gender Violence (November 25)

L25N6000.jpg



LaVozdeGalicia
http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/notici...em-mural/0003_201611201611251480074591270.htm

Muralist Asier Vera and the City Council of Ponferrada inaugurated a mural on the occasion of the day aigainst gender violence in the middle of Camino de Santiago. It is a work in the rear of a building next to the pilgrim hostel of the capital of the Bierzo and the chapel Nuestra Señora del Carmen, at the entrance of the city coming from Molinaseca.

Asier, one of the most famous muralists in Spain and with several works in buildings in Ponferrada, took advantage of the date of November 25 and the fact that the mural will be in the middle of the Camino Francés to remember the American pilgrim Denise Thiem, murdered in April 2015 in Castrillo de Polvazares, near Astorga and before she entered el Bierzo. The motto of Asier, who is also a writer of graffiti, is written in both Spanish and English: "Sin cambios no hay mariposas. No changes no butterflies »

During the creation of the work, in these last days, students of colleges and institutes of Ponferrada came to see how the mural was developing as part of their work about the Day against Gender Violence.


BBM

November 25 is the Day against Gender Violence, also known more specifically as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

The painting is huge, and the image is very powerful.
Even though it does not really look like her, Denise will not be forgotten any time soon.
For those who know what happened, it is also emotional to see how the artist included one of her hands.


:clap:
 
  • #322
80 WITNESSES WILL TESTIFY DURING THE TRIAL ABOUT THE ASSASSINATION OF PILGRIM DENISE THIEM

ABC.es
http://www.abc.es/espana/castilla-l...&ns_source=tw&ns_fee=0&ns_linkname=cm_general

The presiding magistrate of the Jury Tribunal that will judge Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas for the murder of pilgrim Denise Pikka Thiem, that took place in April last year in the vicinity of Castrillo de los Polvazares (León), has made public the decision determining the facts subject to trial. The oral hearing, in which a total of 80 witnesses will testify and 15 expert reports will be presented, will take place between 13 March and 4 April next year, in sessions from Monday to Thursday and initially only in the morning.

The list of justifiable facts has been drawn up on the basis of the briefs of provisional classification of the prosecutors and the defense of the accused. Justiciable facts are the subject of the trial, although it will be the jury that will determine, once the process is completed, those that finally will be declared proven or not proven when they answer the questionnaire developed by the presiding magistrate.
The magistrate has established that the events that took place could constitute a crime of assassination, due to the aggravating circumstance of premeditation, as well as a crime of robbery with violence.

The resolution also allows the evidence proposed by the parties for the course of the trial before the jury, such as the interrogation of the accused, witnesses, expert and documents. Some of the points of the written evidence proposed by the private prosecution and the defense of the accused have not been admitted based on application of the provisions of Article 46.5 of the Organic Law of the Jury, according to ICAL Press Agency.


BBM
 
  • #323
  • #324
THE MAN ACCUSED OF THE CRIME OF THE PEREGRINA INSISTS THAT HIS DETENTION IS ILLEGAL

The High Court in Burgos will hold a hearing on Monday for review of earlier issues for consideration


http://www.diariodeleon.es/noticias...ina-insiste-ilegalidad-detencion_1136692.html

The legal representation of Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas, accused of ending the life of the American pilgrim Denise Pikka Thiem in April 2015, will bring an appeal against the decision of the Audiencia Provincial of León to the High Court of Justice of Castilla y León on Monday. The Audiencia Provincial of León rejected the issues for consideration raised last November.

The suspect's lawyer states that the accused (who will be tried by a popular jury in León from March 13 to April 4) was arrested without the legal requirements for this being met. Also he was forced to participate in a site visit of more than seven hours without protection of his rights. And during the reconstruction of the facts an an inspection of the location of the first burial took place that was carried out on a different date than the one agreed and without presence of his lawyer.
Therefore, according to the lawyer, the legal theory of "the fruits of the poisonous tree" applies by which the conclusions drawn from all these actions must be expelled from the proceedings and subsequently the case has to be filed and the suspect has to be released.

The defense lawyer also opposes the incorporation into the proceedings of the statements of two foreign women who alleged that they had been attacked in the same area, given that both complaints were closed at the time.

The presiding magistrate of the Court of the Jury who will hear the case, initially dismissed all these issues and issued a verdict of oral proceedings against Muñoz Blas. The prosecution seeks a sentence of 25 years in prison for a crime of murder, the private prosecution 24 years in prison.
The defense proposes acquittal based on absence of valid evidence.

BBM
 
  • #325
HOUSE OF THE SUSPECT BURNS TO RUBBLE

Diario de León.es
http://www.diariodeleon.es/noticias...peregrina-queda-reducida-cenizas_1135110.html


The National Police has opened an investigation aiming to clarify the causes of the fire that has reduced the house of Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas to rubble. Muñoz Blas is the alleged murderer of the American pilgrim Denise Thiem. The fire "happened in the recent hours", sources of the Subdelegation confirmed. They did not specify more details pending the results of the investigation. Nor did the neighbors of Castrillo de los Polvazares, where the property was located, admit that they had seen either smoke or flame. Something that is not so strange if you take into account that Muñoz Blas lived in an isolated area, with difficulty of access and visibility.

Since the crime of Denise Thiem was solved - in September 2015, five months after her disappearance - Muñoz Blas is spending his days in the prison of Mansilla de las Mulas. During this year and a half, the house has been the scene of looting and robberies. As will be remembered, last summer the prefab building attacted crowds of people because of the national and even international impact of the case.

BBM


:candle:
 
  • #326
SEARCHES CONTINUE FOR TRACES OF POSSIBLE VICTIMS OF THE ASSASSIN OF DENISE THIEM


The trial in the death of the young American peregrina will begin on March 13


ElCorreoGallego.es
http://www.elcorreogallego.es/santi...thiem/idEdicion-2017-01-15/idNoticia-1036421/

While the countdown towards trial about the death of the American peregrina Denise Pikka Thiem has begun, officers of the National Police and Guardia Civíl continue to track clues about other possible victims of the alleged murderer, Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas.

An American and a Dutch woman denounced at the time that a man who called himself Miguel tried to pull them into his car by force. He did not succeed because they defended themselves with the walking poles that they were carrying. This happened not far from the place where the murderer assaulted Denise Thiem and the German pilgrim Josefine E.F

As this newspaper reported, this young woman denounced on September 20, 2014, a year before Denise Thiem's death, that some yellow arrows, moved her away from the Camino de Santiago and led her to the vicinity of Muñoz Blas' home, where, as she detailed, she was approached by a man with balaclava who jumped from behind the bushes.


BBM


There is MORE! but the report dates from January 15 and it is hiding behind a paywall. I do not mind paying 99 cents to inform you all, but let's say that the procedure could be a bit friendlier for first time users. It is not self-explanatory, to put it mildly, and I fear I may end up with today's paper.

But the real news is that LE is still searching for other victims. They seem serious about that, there is more to it than a mere theoretical option.

Two snippets from september / october 2015:

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...4-April-2015-*Arrest*&p=12135911#post12135911
I know that from the beginning the investigators did not rule out the possibility of finding more bodies. They even explored the possibility of more women who had disappeared without family or friends who might have missed them, although it is unclear whether these investigations will yield results.
Click to expand...

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...4-April-2015-*Arrest*&p=12056662#post12056662
The investigators, however, are seeking clues to solve other unclear issues that have been occurring in that stretch of the Camino, in this region of red earth. For example, the issue of several female pilgrims who, precisely between May and June of this year, reported they had been harassed. In fact, the investigators try to clarify whether the man now arrested is, as suspected, "the so-called Miguel" who attacked two pilgrims, one Dutch and one American. Sources of the Guardia Civíl explained at the time: "The man was driving, got out to talk to them and came to tell them his alleged name, then grabbed one and tried to get her into the car. They fought him off as hard they could, with the poles they use for walking. "
Click to expand...

So LE is still working on all this, even after more than one year ..... :thinking:
 
  • #327
APPEAL FILED BY DEFENSE COUNSEL OF CONFESSED MURDERER MAMB DISMISSED BY HIGHER COURT

Leonoticias
http://www.leonoticias.com/astorga/...stima-recurso-interpuesto-20170214151550.html

The Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Castilla y León rejects the appeal filed by the defense of the confessed murderer of Denise Pikka Thiem
The Civil-Criminal Chamber of the High Court of Justice of Castile and Leon confirms the order issued by the Provincial Court and the scheduled dates for the trial against Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas will continue forward.

The Civil-Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Castilla y León (TSJCyL) has dismissed the appeal filed by the defense of MAMB, the alleged perpetrator of the death of the pilgrim Denise Pikka Thiem in 2015, against the order of the Provincial Court of Leon that resolved the preliminary issues raised by the jury's court proceeding on the death of the pilgrim. With this ruling, as confirmed by sources of the TSJCyL, the decree issued by the presiding judge of the jury on 16 November is being confirmed in every respect.


BBM

Well, that was quick. Saves me the trouble of having to translate the lengthy claims of the defense counsel Vicente Prieto. According to him, there was no suspicion whatsoever against MAMB, and his arrest would have been only due to international pressure.

http://www.elcorreogallego.es/santi...thiem/idEdicion-2017-02-14/idNoticia-1041338/
Prieto argued that Muñoz Blas's detention was illegal, because, as he said, there was not enough evidence, and called for all subsequent proceedings to be annulled "by the theory of the fruit of the poisoned tree." He further stated that the detention was not carried out based on existing evidence, but because of international pressure: "A US senator became interested in the case and called the police pressing for its resolution."
Click to expand...
 
  • #328
DENISE'S BROTHER REQUESTS THE ANNULMENT OF HIS TESTIMONY AND DECIDES NOT TO TRAVEL TO LEÓN FOR THE TRIAL

Leonoticias.com
http://www.leonoticias.com/astorga/201703/04/hermano-denise-solicita-anulacion-20170303164620.html

His intention was to arrive in León next week to be present for the duration of the oral hearing. However, at the last minute, Cedric Thiem has communicated his refusal to travel to Spain and avoid, thus, having to relive the hardest blow that his family has ever experienced. A blow that hit so hard, that he also has requested his legal representation to annul his statement even if it could be made through videoconference.

A petition that the lawyers are currently studying, given that the statement is key to proof of the $ 1,132 that the confessed murderer stole from Denise. Months [ days! ] later he changed the money in a bank office in Astorga and this was instrumental in his detention.

Cedric and his family have always reported that Denise carried a significant amount of money, well over those $ 1,000, in case of any health-related emergency. Hence their lawyers have not yet made a decision about the matter.


BBM
 
  • #329
VIDEO CONFERENCE WITH CEDRIC THIEM WAS ALREADY PLANNED IN NOVEMBER

DiariodeLeón 26-11-2016
http://www.diariodeleon.es/noticias...encia-denunciantes-ataque-previo_1117796.html


The interrogation of Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas, the defendant of the crime, has been scheduled initially on Tuesday, March 14, at 9:00 am. The day before, at 10.00 a people's jury will have been selected and until Thursday, March 22, all members of the National Police Corps who participated in the investigation will pass through the court room. There will be 59 members of the National Police of Astorga and Asturias and a representative of the Local Police of Grandas de Salime, the village where the arrest took place.

On Wednesday, March 22, the mayor of Castrillo de los Polvazares and a councillor of the Town Hall of San Justo de la Vega, among others, will take the witness stand at 9:00 a.m. For 12.00 hrs the testimony is planned of one of the last pilgrims who saw Denise alive, the owner of the hardware store where MAMB bought paint to modify the appearance of his house and a local of Castrillo de los Polvazares.

Thursday, March 23 will start with two videoconferences, with the two peregrinas who previously reported being attacked near the home of Muñoz Blas, another local of Castrillo de los Polvazares and the first lawyer on the official roll call who attended the suspect, among other witnesses. The only session initially planned with afternoon shift is reserved for that day and this will be emotional. At 5:00 p.m., Cedric Kin Fai Thiem will declare by videoconference.

The following week, on Monday, March 27, it is the turn for the toxicology tests, forensic tests, and the Scientific Police. These will take until Wednesday. On Thursday two psychiatric studies will be presented about the mental state of the accused and two others about the injuries of the victim with discrepancies regarding the version of the forensic. On Monday, April 3, the conclusions will be informed and the last speaking time will be offered to the accused.


BBM


Apparently, reporter Andrea Cubillas of Leonoticias has taken us for a ride claiming that at the last minute, Cedric Thiem has communicated his refusal to travel to Spain. This makes me wonder about the rest of her report, especially the mention that Cedric and his family have always reported that Denise carried a significant amount of money, well over those $ 1,000, in case of any health-related emergency. IMHO if I remember well, at the time the family was surprised about the amount of money, but I have not found the reference yet. Travel insurance was invented for a reason!

Hopefully, Cedric Thiem will testify via videoconference as planned, and he will have all our support when he does.

Go Cedric!
 
  • #330
"DEAREST DENISE, MY NAME IS VANESSA...."

On the eve of the start of the trial for the death of Denise Pikka Thiem, the pilgrim who was murdered while doing on the Camino de Santiago, Vanessa - a friend and a helper of the family - describes in two articles her observations of that dramatic happening. This is Part I.

Leonoticias.com
http://www.leonoticias.com/astorga/...s_source=astorga&ns_linkname=noticia&ns_fee=0


"My name is Vanessa. You do not know me, although you passed by my house when you were doing the Camino de Santiago. I live 2 kilometers from where you were murdered.

I remember that on April 5, the date you disappeared was Holy Saturday and I had left for a party. When I returned home it was in fact already Sunday morning. You cannot imagine how many times I wished that if only I had slept at night and then at noon I could have been around the village walking with Luna, maybe meet you, talk for a while in English ... I have thought a thousand times that maybe I could have avoided your murder, if only we had met by chance.

Then I remember that your murderer apparently had at least two previous charges of attempted assaults on two peregrinas, and yet he had the opportunity to continue attacking women until he hit on you. And if, with two previous poilice reports, the police could not prevent a murder, I should not feel guilty either, I suppose, even if my head keeps buzzing.

I must tell you that your family and friends never stopped looking for you. Your brother had many problems simply to report your disappearance, so in the end the searches were mobilized many days after you had gone, but the first few days the security forces turned to tracing the area.

They even brought dogs, the kind of dogs that trace corpse odor. The same ones that seemed to follow your trail until the entrance of Santa Catalina, (the place where you were already dead and half buried, curiously). It is not known why, or by whom, but those dogs were obliged to stop looking. And of course, that is how it happened that your remains did not appear until 5 months later. 5 months of suffering and agony for your family and friends. I received many emails from friends of yours, with whom I still keep in contact, asking about you, and the (few) advances in the investigation. I knew your family was sending letters to Obama, and other leaders of your country to intervene in the case. Richard came looking for you without thinking, leaving at home his baby that at that moment was only 3 weeks old. Pam was constantly asking about you. Your dogs were sad because they had been missing you for so many days.

During those months, I unconsciously learned what it is to live in fear. One time or another I have had fear in my life, of course, but I did not know what it was to live in fear. Something inside me knew that someone had hurt you, and that someone could be the neighbor next door, the one opposite, or, as it happened in the end, the boy who passed on a bike through my street every day, and with whom I was talking a few days before your corpse appeared when I met him iduring the fiestas of Murias.

Because, yes, four months after he killed you, he was free to come to the feasts of my town, and to engage in conversation with other women or girls. During all that time, I never went for a walk in the country with Luna except once, and when I saw that the road I had taken was narrowing and got lost in the trees, I remembered you, I remembered that I did not know what had happened to you or who would have done it, and my legs began to tremble so hard I had to go home.

At night I would cross the yard of my house running and always with a flashlight. I remember the night when Luna began to bark like crazy at the patio door, and without thinking, I grabbed a pair of scissors and opened the door and went out with the scissors in hand, ready to do I not know what. I dreamed that you showed up and talked to me. My mother told me that I had changed a lot, and everything happened without my being aware of it. Nor is it easy to digest, once you were found, that all of us women in the area had been exposed to a murderer for over 5 months. Ever since I knew who killed you, I cannot understand why he was not arrested earlier.

Because every time I accompanied Richard to the police station, they told him about "the person who is holding Denise" as if they knew who he was. And it seems indeed so, as I've been told, that they knew this from the beginning. I do not understand why he was not arrested when they found out that he had gone to the bank to change some banknotes that were yours.

I do not understand that, when the police in charge of the case went on vacation, no one replaced them, so that we called the police station to have a search authorized and there was not even anyone available to tell us that we could do it. I do not know why they kept on insisting that they were waiting for the killer to make a mistake and to turn on your mobile phone (that's why it was obligatory for the press to state that you did not carry the phone with you, so that the murderer would make 'a mistake'). It seems that changing the dollar bills was not enough of an error, but he never switched on the phone, presumably because he burned along with the rest of your things.

Your backpack, the clothes you were wearing, the beautiful pictures you painted when you stopped to rest during the Camino. I do not understand how, with the two previous complaints, knowing that he had had your dollars, knowing that he was a marauder in the area, because there were complaints among the locals, and with everything and more, how he managed to escape from his house under the very noses of the police and make it to Asturias to start on the Camino del Norte.

I hate to see his photo taken a few days before you appeared, in which he emerges laughing with a group of pilgrims. I hate the idea that this guy was on the loose for five more months after he killed you. I hate to think that a woman cannot walk alone, not only because she is at the mercy of the whims of whoever is on the road, but even more because she is also unprotected by those whose duty it is to protect us.

I travel many times alone. I have a cousin smaller than me, who is in college starting to live, and who likes to travel too. I have friends, neighbors, acquaintances, cousins, a sister ... I have so many people that I hate to think that I could lose in the same way just because someone dangerous crosses their path ... because Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas is not crazy, lots of people who had regular dealings with him can tell you that.. He's just a dangerous man.


BBM
 
  • #331
"DEAREST DENISE, ..."

Part II


Leonoticias.com
http://www.leonoticias.com/astorga/201703/08/querida-denise-20170308141803.html

"On the night of September 11, they found your body in an extremely advanced state of decomposition. You were buried under some branches, not far from the road nor from the area that had been trailed with the dogs of the Guardia Civíl 5 months earlier. You were not that far either from the house of your presumed murderer. They only found you because Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas himself admitted that he had killed you and led the police to the place where you were.

I remember the phone calls asking me if it was true that they had already found you, other calls that confirmed that yes, they had already found you before it was officially confirmed. I remember the press publishing it immediately because, as someone later told me, the then Minister of the Interior, Jorge Fernández Díaz "was in a great hurry to have it published that this was merit of the police."

The following weeks were hell for your family. They only wanted you to rest in peace, near your house, in the country that your parents had emigrated to so that you and your brother could have a better future. At the end of October I got a message about the funeral ceremony in Madrid, because your remains were going to be repatriated at last. A few days before the planned date, your repatriation was canceled at the request of the lawyer of Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas, with the excuse of a second autopsy that had to be performed, which, as I understand it, they possibly did not even manage to accomplish at all.

I had to warn your family not to watch the videos that, with very little consideration, were published on youtube with the confession of the murderer and the reconstruction of the crime, in which he bursts out in laughter in several images. The video in which he describes how he killed you, how he buried you near his house, how he unearthed you months later and changed the spot he buried you, something that would have been difficult and risky for him if the security forces had kept looking for you in the area. From the place where you were supposedly buried for the first time to the place where you appeared lies a distance of about a kilometer.

Miguel Ángel would have crossed two roads carrying your body to take you there (I know he did not have a car, he only had the bike I saw him ride every day when he passed by my house). The same video where he confesses that he cut your hands when you were already dead, guess why he did that. And go and find out where your hands are, because he did not even leave you the consolation that you could go home complete. The video in which he tells one lie after another, as when he says that he started a conversation with you.

We both know that you did not speak a word of Spanish, and he himself says in the videos that he does not speak English. I do not believe he started any conversation or understood what he claims you said, that you wanted him to accompany you because you had lost your way. We know that it is not true, as it is not true that he gave you only a blow to the head, and when you started to convulse he cut your neck so that you would die faster, out of pity. We know that it is not true because the autopsy reveals numerous fractures throughout your body: two on the skull, several ribs, jaws ... The dangerous Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas was so angry with you that I can guarantee he would have been anything but compassionate.

In the end your remains were repatriated the first week of February, 5 months after you appeared. Almost a year after your death. I went to Madrid to bid you farewell next to part of your family and some friends from Spain. You will appreciate that the ceremony was simple and very beautiful, and for all those who were there it finally was a relief to know that, as your brother said, he could take you "back home" at last.

Miguel Ángel Muñoz has been in prison since he was arrested. They say that there he became friends, among others, with a man who had killed his two daughters with a saw because he wanted to take revenge on his wife. The trial against Miguel Ángel is coming soon. This will be a very mediatic trial by a popular jury, as even the national television broadcasted the news. I would like to think that rather than to what is published in the press, the jury will pay attention to the reading of the autopsy, especially to the injuries that your body presented and above all to the real cause of your death.

Let the jury take into account the expert evidence, the first testimony of Miguel Angel Muñoz Blas before his current lawyer told him what lies to tell in order to reduce the sentence. Look at the contradictions and the inconsistency of the various versions that this alleged murderer has given over these months. May they see cristal clear that it is not true that he happened to find your body "by chance". I only hope that justice will be done.

Farewell, Denise."


BBM
 
  • #332
"THE BEST INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE IS THE CONFESSION OF THE ACCUSED HIMSELF"


Leonoticias (with video outside the court in León)
http://www.leonoticias.com/leon/201703/13/mejor-prueba-incriminatoria-confesion-20170313135231.html

The Provincial Court has started the selection of the members of jury who will judge the case of the murder of the American pilgrim Denise Pikka Thiem, and saw the surprising appearance of the confessed author of the crime, Miguel Ángel Muñoz

The Camino de Santiago marks its new credential in the Provincial Court of León. The court room has opened its doors to host the session of selection of the popular jury that will try to clarify if Miguel Ángel Muñoz murdered Denise Pikka Thiem when the American pilgrim undertook the stage between Castrillo de los Polvazares and Santa Catalina de Somoza of the Ruta Jacobea.

Tranquility and certainty exude from the three lawyers who practice the private accusation on the part of the American family. They are of the opinion that "the best proof is the one provided by the accused himself", since he confessed to the facts in his second statement in the courts.

"The reconstruction of the facts is there and many details in his confession and reconstruction only the person who killed Denise could possibly know, no one else," Javier García Fernández toldd the press in a recess of the previous session.

During the morning, the doors of the Audiencia have lived a very mediatic day with a dozen national and local media who hung around pending the statements of prosecution and defense lawyers.

Vicente Prieto, who is charged with overseeing the defense of the alleged murderer, hopes that in the trial "reason and justice will be imposed", because "that's why they are here" and he expects his client to "go free, sincerely."

To the surprise of many, the confessed murderer of Denise arrived in a police car after 12:00 o'clock. He was led handcuffed the Leonese chamber for an interview with his lawyer.

At first it was suspected that they might offer a possible deal, something that was completely discarded by the lawyer since "these are penalties superior to the six years".

The arrival to the chamber was a request of the lawyer himself to prepare the statement that the defendant will make tomorrow Tuesday.

As for the hypotheses and the confession that Muñoz made after the body was found in September 2015, the lawyer does not understand "what happened in the interval between the first and second statements" and he will try to clarify it through the statements and the study of the psychiatric evaluation of his client.
"He explained that he found the body because he was doing a lot of sports, he saw an area that smelled bad and he did not pay further attention because he thought it was an animal given that it was a hunting area. He also explained he money, how and where he found it, he hoped to see any announcements and when he did not find those, he kept it. "

A "very varied jury, coming from all kinds of background" will try to elucidate the case during the next three weeks. If Miguel Ángel Muñoz ended the life of the American pilgrim or if, in the ironic words of the private prosecutors, it was a "Judeo-Masonic conspiracy" and everything was the result of a "bad investigation" by the police of a case that, in the eyes of the defense lawyer, "had to be solved in some way" and in which his client "fits as a scapegoat."

The final composition of the jury will consist of nine jurors. The distribution by gender will be of eight women and one man, apart from two replacements, also of the female sex.

This Tuesday the accused will give a statement during the first session of the trial. The court room is being prepared to receive a new media case that will try to clean the blood spilled on the Camino de Santiago and that will remain as an indelible stain in the memory of the locals of the area.


BBM
 
  • #333
  • #334
Thanks very much for all the updates and translation Zazara!
 
  • #335
TRIAL FOR THE ASSASSINATION OF DENISE THIEM: JURY HAS BEEN INSTALLED


El Progreso
http://elprogreso.galiciae.com/noti...uicio-por-el-asesinato-de-la-peregrina-denise

From this Monday on eight women and a man, as members, and two women, as substitutes, form the popular jury that will be responsible for judging Miguel Angel Muñoz. He is the man accused of the murder of Denise Pikka Thiem, when the American peregrina was walking the stretch of the Camino de Santiago between Castrillo de los Polvazares and Santa Catalina de Somoza in April 2015.

The trial will start on Tuesday in the Provincial Court of León with the first session of reading the indictment of the parties, their previous allegations and the interrogation of the accused Miguel Angel Muñoz. The private accusation, exercised by the lawyer Fernando Rodríguez Santocildes, Is seeking a 20-year prison term for the offense of assassination.

To these 20 years is added a petition of another four years for robbery with violence, as well as a compensation of 100,000 euros for the brother of the victim, Cedric Kin Fai Thiem, and 150,000 euros for Seng and Dalia Thiem, Denise's parents.

Thus, from this Tuesday until next April 4, the jury will deliberate on the 15 justiciable facts(*) proposed by the judge, for which more than 80 witnesses, including more than 60 policemen, will pass through the Provincial Court of León.

BBM


(*) Justiciable facts are the subject of the trial
 
  • #336
THE 15 JUSTICIABLE FACTS IN THE TRIAL OF THE PEREGRINA

NoticiasCYL
http://www.noticiascyl.com/leon/suc...r-el-asesinato-de-la-peregrina-denise-prikka/

1. At a time not sufficiently determined, around midday, on April 5, 2015, Mrs. Denise Pikka Thiem, a national of the United States and who was conducting alone the Camino de Santiago that she had begun in Pamplona on March 6, 2015, covered the journey from the town of Astorga (León) to the village of El Ganso (León).

2. Doña Denise left the main Camino trail to visit the town of Castrillo de los Polvazares (León), and, when leaving the same [village], was disoriented because she followed the indications of a yellow arrow that, instead of returning her to the official route, took her along a road to the vicinity of the property owned by the accused, Don Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas, where the house in which he lives is located.

3. It was the accused, Don Miguel Angel Muñoz Blas, who placed or modified the aforementioned yellow arrow with the intention of confusing the pilgrims.

4. When the pilgrim Doña Denise passed the plot of land, the accused Don Miguel Angel Blas, as he had done on occasion with other pilgrims, approached her and accompanied her during a stretch of the trail.

5. At a certain moment Doña Denise, as a result of the behaviour of the accused, was annoyed by the actions and presence of the latter, who, suddenly, in an inexpected way and without Doña Denise being able to notice or defend herself, picked up a stick from the ground, struck Doña Denise on the head, as a result of which she fell to the ground, and, notwithstanding that she hit some rocks while falling, the accused hit her in the head at least two times more and another time on the thorax with the mentioned stick.

6. As a result of the blows delivered by the defendant, Doña Denise suffered a fracture at the right temporo-parietal-sphenoidal level, multiple fractures in the naso-orbital region, linear fractures in the chin and right lower jaw, with loss of bone tissue in the anterior alveolar region and loss of a tooth and fracture of the crown of another, fractures on both sides and at the base of the skull, as well as fractures of the ribs 3a to 7a.

7. To avoid being seen, the accused, dragged Doña Denise's body, still alive, to a more secluded and less visible place, stripping her from her backpack, at which point he cut her throat, a cut that resulted in a fatal wound.

8. The blows that the accused deliverd to Doña Denise caused her death by severe traumatic brain injury with destruction of vital neurological centers, proceeding the accused then to make a cut in the neck with a pointed weapon.

9. Immediately, the defendant stripped Doña Denise's body in order to accelerate the decomposition process, and hid it underground in a hole in the vicinity of his property and the place where he caused her death, not before he cut off the two hands he buried elsewhere and that have not been found.

10. The accused then burned and made the victim's clothes and belongings disappear, although he seized at least one thousand one hundred and thirty-two (1,132) US dollars in bills, which she had in her possession for contingencies, and [he took] a hat.

11. The accused proceeded to the sale of said banknotes on April 17, 2015 in the Office of Cajamar-Caja Rural de Astorga, taking the Euros that they gave him in return.

12. At a later moment, on an undetermined date at the end of August 2015, in the face of police pressure and the fear of being discovered, the defendant unearthed the body and moved it to the place where it finally appeared.

13. After numerous investigations were carried out, and due to the increase in the police cordon around the accused Don Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas, he left his home on September 8, 2015, to be finally arrested on September 11, 2015, at 15.30, in the Asturian town of Grandas de Salime.

14. By indications of the accused given to Police agents, the body of Doña Denise was located, after traveling about two 2 km. along a dirt road, climbing a hillside and passing a stone fence, on the night of September 11, 2015, at the foot of a pine, naked, in an advanced state of decomposition and covered by shrubs, in a place nearby Santa Catalina de Somoza, at the height of the km. 7 highway LE-142.

15. Doña Denise Pikka Thiem, born August 7, 1974, was the daughter of Don Seng and Dona Dalia Thiem, she had one single brother Don Cedric Kin Fai Thiem, she was unmarried and had no children.


BBM
 
  • #337
PUBLIC PROSECUTOR: "HE KILLED BECAUSE HE WANTED TO AND BECAUSE THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE BAD"

ElCorreoGallego
http://www.elcorreogallego.es/santi...-mala/idEdicion-2017-03-14/idNoticia-1045789/

The prosecutor in charge of public prosecution in the case of the murder of the peregrina Denise Pikka Thiem, in April 2015 when she was walking the Camino de Santiago, stated today, at the trial begun at 09.00 hours in the Audiencia de León , that the alleged responsible, Miguel Angel Muñoz, "killed he because he wanted to do it, there are people who kill because they are bad."

The accuser said that there is evidence to convict Muñoz Blas as "guilty of assassinating and robbing Denise" with aggravating circumstances shown by forensic reports that contain "a surprise and brutal attack" that incriminates him and makes him deserve a conviction of 20 years in prison.

After killing her, the defendant allegedly undressed her to get rid of all the incriminating evidence, but he kept "more than $ 1,000 of Denise", which also makes him guilty of a crime of violent robbery for which she requests five years of imprisonment. For the Public Prosecutor, there is no evidence that indicates any mental or psychological illness of the accused, against the thesis of the defense of Miguel Angel Muñoz Blas, who claims that "either he did not do it or, that if he did, he could not avoid it" .

For the prosecutor, "clearly he knew he was doing it and he wanted to do it, there are people who just kill because they are bad." The certainty of his guilt is also based on the public accusation in the defendant's own confession and the subsequent reconstruction of the events during which Muñoz Blas toured the place where he attacked and killed Denise Pikka and provided all kinds of information on how he carried out the plan.


BBM
 
  • #338
DENISE'S NAIL THAT THE POLICE FOUND, MAIN SUBJECT OF CONTENTION BETWEEN PROSECUTOR, DEFENSE

DiarioDeLeón
http://www.diariodeleon.es/noticias...-principal-caballo-batalla-vista_1145088.html

If the private accusation and defense concurred in anything in their declarations on the opening day of the trial for the death of the American pilgrim Denise Pikka Thiem it was about the nail that the police found in the place where, supposedly, the defendant concealed the corpse of the woman in the beginning. It was the only detail that they cited in common as important in their manifestations before the press, despite the fact that they hold such contrary positions as not to find any doubts about the guilt of Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas and to point out the absolute lack of relation to the facts, according to the lawyer who represents him, Vicente Prieto García.

Muñoz Blas's lawyer did not want to refer to this part of the body of the victim - remember that the hands, amputated from the corpse, were never found. "I would rather leave it for later," he said in reference to this finding, "because it is the bone of contention of this issue, along with the matter of the detention." However, the Supreme Court of Justice of Castilla y León has already ruled on the arrest.

According to the lawyers of Cedric Kin Fai Thiem, the appearance of the nail corroborates the story that Miguel Ángel Muñoz Blas made to the investigating judge on the day of his arrest - September 11, 2015 - a confession so detailed that only the perpetrator of the crime was able to tell that, the lawyers Esther Arabaolaza, Fernando Rodríguez Santocildes and Javier García Fernández have stated

The hearing has scheduled for this morning the interrogation of the accused. Muñoz Blas will plead not guilty and will answer questions from the Prosecutor's Office, the private prosecution and the defense, his lawyer confirmed. He is in pre-trial detention since September 11, 2015. For his legal representation his role during the morning of today will be simple: "He just has to tell the truth," Prieto said early yesterday, before entering the Courts. "There is really no change of version" in the accused's position, he said. "There is an old saying that everyone says: when they arrest someone the first statement is the one that counts. And in this case, he argued in principle that he had not done it, therefore, his work until April 4, the day on which the jury will begin their deliberations, he will focus on "figuring out what went wrong with him - his client - between the first statement and the second, in a space of four or five hours. We do not know clearly what has happened to make him to confess the crime.

The private accuser recalled that Muñoz Blas has the right to adopt the strategy that he sees most convenient, although for the team of lawyers of Cedric Thiem "only one person could commit the crime" and this is Muñoz Blas. His confession and evidence incriminate him, they said.

The team of lawyers will personally inform the Thiem family about the development of the trial. They prefer not to follow the media, Esther Arabaolaza said. The Thiem "do not understand anything" of what happened. The violent death of Denise has drowned them in sadness. The family will not come to Spain to trial. Cedric Thiem, the sole member of the family called to testify, will do so by videoconference.


BBM


The Spanish expression 'caballo de guerra' means literally 'war horse', and is usually translated as 'bone of contention'.
Why oh why did the reporter pick these words .... :gaah: I hate to use that in the header in this context!
 
  • #339
BREAKING:

[video=twitter;841613987825475584]https://twitter.com/SSAhijado/status/841613987825475584[/video]


The man accused of the murder of Denise Thiem refuses to testify in the trial that is being held against him in León.


BBM

WOW!


If MAMB agreed to tell the truth, as his lawyer said he would, and now changed his mind this also answers the lawyers questions about what happened in September 2015 between his first confession and the second: the suspect changed his mind.

I would like to see the expression on his counsel's face! :ohwow:
 
  • #340
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