Ibar tries to adapt to the new situation without letting up in the search for justice

The Hispanic-American Pablo Ibar, who since 1994 is imprisoned in the US for three murders he claims not to have committed, but for those who were sentenced to death and 19 years later to life imprisonment, he tries to take the guilty verdict handed down by a Florida jury today a year ago.

"Pablo is gradually adapting to his new situation," Andrés Krakenberger, spokesman for the Pablo Ibar Juicio Justo Association, told Efe, who on this first anniversary of the verdict has stressed that he will not give up his efforts to "get justice ".

Born in Fort Lauderdale (Florida) 47 years ago, married and the father of two children, Ibar is being held at the Okeechobee prison in the center of the state.

Recently he has been transferred to a pavilion "with older people and where he even works as a hairdresser, which at least gives him something to occupy time on," the spokesman added.

After the jury of the fourth trial of Ibar held since 1994 found him guilty on January 19, 2019, on May 15 of that year a sentence arrived that at least did not go back to death, such as the trial of the year 2000 (the third), which was overturned in 2016 by the Florida Supreme Court.

Life imprisonment means to continue living, but it is still difficult to fit for a man who has been deprived of liberty since 1994, the year Casimir Sucharsky, owner of a Miramar nightclub (southeast Florida) and were killed. Sharon Anderson and Marie Rogers models.

Last November Ibar, through a video released by the association, asked for help to "prove" his "innocence" and "get out of hell" in which he says he is living. He also said he wants a new trial, which if held would be the fifth.

After the conviction issued in May 2019, Ibar's lawyers notified the justice within the regulatory deadline that they were going to appeal.

"Right now the clock could say that it is stopped, waiting for the transcripts of the trial, an essential instrument for the lawyer appointed by Pablo to take charge of the appeal before the Court of Appeals of the Fourth District of Florida," Krakenberger said. .

The Pablo Ibar Association, based in the Basque Country (Spain), where the paternal family of Ibar, nephew of the late boxer José Manuel Ibar "Urtain", has launched a fundraising campaign on its website (www. pabloibar.com).

"The Association wants to take advantage of this first anniversary of that incomprehensible verdict to renew its commitment to secure the means for Ibar to have an effective legal representation that will bring the appeal to fruition," said a statement.

Krakenberger said "it is hard to believe that a jury, which saw the same evidence we all saw during the trial, issued the verdict it issued."

"It is hard to think that a jury can get carried away by a final prosecutor's allegation that nothing had to do with the evidence and that it had much more appeal to issue a verdict with the guts and not coldly, with the brain," he said.

According to the communiqué of the Association, the jury of the trial held in the courts of Fort Lauderdale "completely ignored blunt evidence," including that "of the dozens of fingerprints found at the scene of the crime, none corresponds to those of Pablo Ibar."

"The DNA found on the shirt that covered the face the murderer does not match that of Pablo, this shirt contains abundant DNA in saliva, sweat and blood, five people having been identified: the three people killed and two men still by identify".

The DNA analyst who received the shirt for his last analysis prior to this trial had stated that he had received the shirt in an open paper envelope and had to change the seal, the association adds.

"A minimal trace of DNA was found that only contained a partial coincidence with Ibar's DNA on the shirt, which has the typical morphology of a test contamination," he says in a long list of things for which he qualifies as "incomprehensible." the verdict of January 19, 2019.

Regarding the process for the appeal Krakenberger indicated that the transcript of the last trial may be about 10,000 pages and may "take a little more than a year after the end of the trial, that is, after the May 15 ruling." .

"At that time," he added, "the lawyer appointed by Pablo will make the appeal itself and present it to the court. From then on it may take about two or three years for the hearing to take place on the appeal and it may take another decision. year".

The appeal is against the verdict and sentence.

"If the appeal were favorable, we would repeat the trial again. If we were negative, we would appeal to the Supreme Court of Florida. And if we were negative, we would go to the federal jurisdiction, but it is not something we contemplate," he said.

Krakenberger said Ibar's family and the Association are confident "in getting the trial repeated on the first appeal."