Marcinho appeals conviction and asks to be cleared of couple’s death

The soccer player Marcinho appealed against the sentence that condemned him to three years and six months in open prison for having killed, running over, the couple of teachers, Alexandre Lima It is Maria Cristina Soaresin December 2020, when he was still playing for Botafogoof Rio de Janeiro. The right-back’s lawyers ask that the sentence be reformed for his acquittal or at least reduced by a third.

In the process, the public ministry claims that the athlete recklessly drove his Mini Cooper, being at high speed, in addition to failing to provide help to the couple. But, according to the appeal filed by the player, the examination report from the Institute of Criminalistics “has very serious methodological flaws” that would have led to “an overestimation of vehicle speed” at the time of the accident.

Marcinho’s defense claims that the judge relied on oral and expert evidence to substantiate that the player was driving at high speed. To contest, the athlete presented another side, stating that the accident was “inevitable”. The right-back’s lawyers still say that the ICCE report “is not reliable”, in addition to being “overestimated and unrealistic”. The document in question states that Marcinho was driving between 86 and 110 km/h. For him, the “contact phase” was not considered in the calculation formula.

The lawyers presented technical allegations of an expert hired to base the thesis and a witness that corroborates the justifications. According to them, the speed of the car at the time of the incident was around 73 km/h, varying 5% more or less and, therefore, compatible with the road where the accident occurred.

In addition, they argue that Maria Cristina was hit before Alexandre, who would have been trapped in the front of the vehicle and projected forward several meters after the impact. They say that the woman’s bloodstain cannot be considered as the husband’s projection distance for the purpose of calculating Marcinho’s speed. Lawyers also try to mischaracterize the testimony of a policeman who pointed out the player’s car at a speed of 120 km/h. “No human being has the gift of estimating the speed of a vehicle with precision and accuracy through vision”they say.

They also tried to minimize testimonies of witnesses who say that the athlete “sewed” the track recklessly. “There is no reason why their testimonials deserve greater credibility”, they claim. Finally, they recovered the words of a kiosk owner who said it was common for accidents to happen in the region, which would be dark and without crosswalks or traffic lights, trying to transfer the blame to the couple. “The victims abruptly entered the road in a place where there was no crosswalk and it was not possible for the appellant to see them in time to prevent the accident, which, due to the dynamics of the facts, was absolutely inevitable”.

The lawyers of Marcinho they ask the Justice to acquit the player of the crime, requesting that the sentence be reduced to one third and that the custodial sentence be replaced by two pecuniary installments, or at least in a penalty restricting rights and a pecuniary installment. The athlete responded for manslaughter, when there is no intention to kill. The absence of help caused the death of the couple, according to reports placed by the PM in the action, in addition to stating that the right-back had consumed alcoholic beverages. alexander died on the spot, while Marcia died seven days after the accident.