Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy and Witness Intimidation Charges

Lawyer Juan Enrique Cátala Suárez pleaded guilty today for charges of conspiracy, impediment or persuasion of witnesses not appearing and for attempted threat and intimidation of witnesses (Art. 283 of the Penal Code) after the prosecution reclassified the crime of bribery.

Judge Daniel López González, of the Caguas Court, set the hearing to pass sentence for August 4 at 9:00 am, reported the press office of the Court Administration.

On May 18, Cátala Suárez resigned from the preliminary hearing due to an agreement with the Public Ministry.

The lawyer was accused together with the lawyer Ana Luisa González Cabrera, for allegedly making several payments to the witness in a case filed against one of his clients, with the purpose that the witness avoid being contacted until the term required for the celebration had elapsed. of the trial and the case will be dismissed, as announced by the Department of Justice.

According to the investigation, during the preliminary hearing stage the witness stopped attending court and responding to the communications to the prosecutor and the agents in charge of the double murder case that occurred in 2022.

When taking steps to contact her through her relatives, it was discovered that the lawyers gave the witness money so that she could move to another municipality and could not be located until the murder case against her client was dismissed. It also appears that Cátala Suárez and González Cabrera allegedly asked the witness not to answer the calls from the agents and the prosecutor, and not to allow them to summon her.

On May 22, Judge Elmer Rodríguez Díaz, of the Caguas Court, determined probable cause for the trial against González Cabrera, who faces charges of conspiracy, offer of bribery, and persuading witnesses to fail to appear.

The hearing for the reading of the lawyer’s sentence was scheduled for June 21 and the start of the trial in her fund for July 19, both processes are scheduled to begin at 9:00 am