The highest sentence for the murder of Lukas Aguirre has appealed to be tried for murder

The defence of the man sentenced to 20 years for the murder of Lukas Agirre has appealed to the High Court of Justice of the Basque Country (TSJPV) to change the classification of the crime and reduce it from murder to homicide. The events took place outside a discotheque in the centre of San Sebastián in the early morning of 25 December 2022.

Attorney Eva Cestafe Lete has called for the maximum possible reduction of the sentence, arguing that at the time of the attack her client was up to his neck with drugs and alcohol (with a polytoxicomania painting).

Sanctions

Last June, a popular jury found the three defendants - two men and one woman - guilty. The sentence sentenced the material author - who has now appealed to the TSJPV - to 20 years' imprisonment, nine and a half years' imprisonment for the second for acting as assistant, and one year and two months' imprisonment for a crime of concealment.

In this ruling, the jury applied the common mitigating factor for drug use to the principal accused and the woman, while the second man was further mitigated by finding that the sentence showed that he had a double mental disorder and drug use.

The defense denies the plunder.

According to the defence, the death of Lukas Agirrer occurred "in the context of a two-party struggle." The lawyer claims that the victim was alert as a result of this incident, so he supports the fact that the attack was no surprise and that the victim was able to defend himself.

The letter also considers it disproportionate that the defendant's drug addiction was merely a common attenuation. The defence insists that he had an extreme picture of high substance use (polyoxicomania), which should reduce the penalty much further.

Source of the conflict Christmas morning

In June, it was shown that two groups of young people had an argument outside the disco in the early morning of December 25, 2022. After a first confrontation in which the assistant handed the knife to the main author, the defendants threatened the young people with "you don't know who's in front of you."

Soon after, a second fight broke out on the other side of the square, and the main defendant fell to the ground from a punch, at which point he rose and stabbed Aguirre "suddenly and unexpectedly" before running away and throwing his gun into a container.