Dolores Vázquez was arrested in 2000 on suspicion of murdering teenager Rocio Wanninkhof and, after a trial by jury, was sentenced to prison.
In September 2003, Briton Tony Alexander King confessed to the murder of Rocio Wanninkhof and Vázquez was released from prison after serving seventeen months. She sued for compensation due to a miscarriage of justice.
Last December, the Judicial Council (CPJJ), agreed unanimously that there had been no abnormal functioning of the judicial system in the arrest, imprisonment or subsequent conviction by jury. In other words, the judges believed there had been no miscarriage of justice in the case and therefore rejected the compensation claim.
Now, after the Supreme Court upheld the verdict and sentence given to Tony Alexander King, the Justice Department has ruled that there was, in fact, an ‘error’ in the case. The Dirección General de Relaciones con la Administración de Justicia has recommended a compensation figure of €120,000. This falls just a wee bit short of the €4 million demanded by the lawyers for Dolores Vázquez.
The ruling, however, is not final and the next step is for the case to go before the the State Council. The lawyers for Dolores Vázquez are at least pleased that, for the first time, the State has actually recognised that an error did occur…