The trial phase of Pablo Ibar concludes with DNA remains as key evidence

"We have shown the jury that the new DNA tests are not only unreliable", but that analyzed "give a 99% statistics of possibilities" that these genetic remains do not belong to Ibar, said Joe Nascimento, one of the the lawyers of the Spaniard, who was sentenced to death for the murders of Casimir Sucharski, Sharon Anderson and Marie Rogers.

That conviction was annulled in 2016 by the Supreme Court of Florida because the evidence on which it was based was scarce and weak, and that is why this trial was held since October 1, the fourth for the triple murder with Ibar as accused.

During the 15 oral hearings held in a court in the city of Fort Lauderdale, north of Miami, the Office of the Prosecutor has called witnesses, experts and experts, leaving for the last week the recent DNA tests carried out on the shirt.

But that test of "minimal" genetic remains "is not reliable" for the defense, which also considers a contaminated test appeared after many years by a probable chain of custody of the garment.

In fact, in the shirt found in the garden of Sucharski's house there are DNA remains of up to five people, the three victims and two unidentified men who are not Ibar.

There is also the circumstance that in the eight previous comparisons of genetic remains practiced between judgments and appeals of Ibar, all gave a negative result in the identification with the DNA of the accused.

In addition, added Nascimiento, "we believe that we have been able to show the jury that several witnesses presented by the prosecution have made inconsistent and unreliable statements."

He opined that the accusation "is doing everything it can to condemn Paul", to the point of modifying the qualification of the evidence that was made in the trial of the year 2000; But, the lawyer said, "we have shown the jury that this is completely unreliable."

"If the jury hears both parties, I strongly feel that the evidence will show that Paul is not guilty," Nascimento said.

When the trial resumes on January 7, it will reach the defense his turn of oral arguments and witnesses and Nascimento believes that his experts "will make it clear to the jury" that Ibar "is not guilty".

In this context, the main concern for the defense has to do, in large part, with the obscurity and difficult understanding of the technical and scientific explanations exposed by the experts and experts of the Office of the Prosecutor.

In spite of everything, the Ibar team of lawyers trusts to be able to "prove that there are numerous problems" in the case, among others, the identification of Ibar by a witness, Gary Foy, who "is completely unreliable" and "no you must believe, "he added.

But Nascimento acknowledged that "there is a lot of work to be done" and that "it will be difficult".

The judicial setback that led the Prosecutor's Office to annul Ibar's death sentence has not affected the intentions of the accusers, who maintain their intention to seek the death penalty in the current trial.

In addition to the "wrong" identification, according to the defense, made by Gary Foy, the video recorded by a surveillance camera in the house of Sucharski, of low resolution, blurred and with strong light contrasts, is another of the central pieces of the Prosecutor's office against Ibar.

Foy is the man who, 24 years ago, identified Ibar as one of the two men he saw leaving Sucharski's house in the early hours of Sunday morning, June 26, 1994, in the car of the murdered man.

He has always said, also now in his testimony, that at the end of the photographic reconnaissance round of five images he had doubts between two people, one of them Ibar, but in the physical examination wheel only Spanish appeared.

In addition, in the physical reconnaissance wheel all the other people showed physical characteristics completely different from those of the suspect who appeared in the photo taken from the video of the recording camera.