DAY SEVEN: Trial Against David Castillo

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Last update: April 30 at 10:15 pm

Main Points of the Day

  • Investigative agent José Paloma testified that during the raid on the house and arrest of Mariano Díaz Chavez, Diaz Chavez approached him and told the agent that Douglas Bustillo had contracted hitmen to killed Berta Cáceres and previously, had offered Díaz Chavez 500,000 Lps [~$20,000 USB] to carry out the murder which he declined. The money was given to Bustillo by a DESA manager. He also specified that Cáceres was killed because she opposed a dam project.

  • The forensic doctor that conducted the autopsy and determined the cause of Berta’s death testified that Berta was shot four times but killed by two bullets that damaged her lungs and caused blood to drain into her thorax (hemothorax). Within minutes, the injuries would have caused her death which was classified as a homicide.

  • Several documents were ratified [by error, it was reported yesterday that this part of the evidence had concluded, but it continued today].

    • Castillo’s defense team was more insistent today about highlighting and questioning errors made by investigative agents including delays between the moment that property was seized from a suspect and the time the chain of custody was started; the lack of signatures on investigative reports, the expertise of agents to conduct inspections, etc. This questioning is in line with Castillo’s defense strategy.

  • The trial was suspended at 10:11 pm and convened for Monday, May 3rd at 8:30 am after the lawyers representing the Cáceres’ family asked the court to reconsider the decision to schedule the trial for tomorrow (Saturday, May 1st). The request was granted.

More Details

Case Documents Ratified and Discussed

  • Sara Grijalva Romero ratified the document outlining the raid on Mariano Díaz Chavez’s residence in Tegucigalpa on May 2, 2016. One of the phones (a Sony cell phone) found in the house was ratified as physical evidence.

  • Elvin Alejandro Maradiaga Gomez ratifies a series of photographs taken during an inspection of the exterior surroundings of the house where Berta was murdered in El Líbano in La Esperanza. The agent took the photos to compare them with photos of the same house and area that were extracted from Douglas Bustillo’s phone.

  • Investigative agent Jose Palomo ratified a document outlining statements that Mariano Díaz Chavez made to him during the raid on his house and his arrest.

    • Díaz Chavez’s statements to the agent as written in the document was read in court: “Mariano Díaz Chavez, who identified himself as a Major of the Honduran Armed Forces said that: “they were confusing him in the investigation because he remembers that Douglas Geovanny Bustillo, who works in the company Desarrollo Energético (DESA), had proposed to Díaz Chavez to kill Berta Cáceres and that she was a leader of COPINH. She was opposing the construction of dams on rivers in the sectors of Intibucá and Santa Bárbara. Because of the trust that Bustillo had in him, Bustillo had proposed to give him 500,000 Lps [~$20,000 USD] to carry out an assassination plan, and that the money would be given by a DESA manager, a young person, but that he [Díaz Chavez] didn’t know his name. The company was located in the Yojoa lake area, and also he was aware that on March 3, 2016, in the El Líbano neighborhood in Intibucá, they killed Berta Caceres and injured another person. The payment for the murder was given to Douglas Geovanny Bustillo the following day after the murder, and that he could give a declaration because he had not participated in the murder and that he knew about the planning of the murder because they had offered him the work but he had not accepted. And that because of Bustillo’s trust in him, Bustillo had told him what had happened both before the planning and after the murder. Diaz Chavez also said that Douglas Bustillo was a member of the Armed Forces of Honduras and that because of this, they had sought him out because he was a person trained in special forces.”

Forensic Medical Doctor Testifies that Berta’s Death Was a Homicide and Caused by Two Fatal Bullet Injuries

  • Dr. Etelinda López Castellanos, the forensic doctor that conducted the autopsy provided a medical analysis of how Berta Cáceres was killed.

  • Berta Cáceres was shot four times and suffered from three injures. Berta suffered one injury to her arm/shoulder. Two of the fired bullets damaged her lungs and caused blood to drain into her thorax (hemothorax). Within minutes, the injuries would have caused her death which was classified as a homicide.

Forensic Analysis on David Castillo’s Cell Phones

  • Investigative agent and expert witness Walter Caballero Zelaya was called to the stand. He testified that he attempted to carry out data extraction on two of Castillo’s cell phones, both IPhones. One (the IPhone with a black cover) appeared to be blocked and would not connect to a network which is required in order to extract data. The SIM card was attached to a Honduran cell phone number (+504-9990-0946). The second contained a SIM card attached to a US phone number. No data was extracted from either phone.

  • The defense brought a technical consultant to assist in questioning the prosecutor’s expert witness. The questions focused on the manner in which the phones were handled in his possession.