The judges of the Bucharest Court of Appeal concluded on Monday the debates in the case in the appeal phase in which Mario Iorgulescu, the son of Gino Iorgulescu, the president of the Professional Football League, was sentenced in the first instance to 15 years and eight months in prison, for the accident caused in September 2019 when, drunk and drugged, he killed a 24-year-old man with his car. We remind you that Mario Iorgulescu is hospitalized in a private clinic in Italy, his parents managed to get him out of the country with a private plane immediately after the accident.
Mario Iorgulescu Photo: Facebook / Mario Iorgulescu
The magistrates announced that they will give the final sentence in this case on October 11.
At this last term of court, the lawyers of the Iorgulescu family requested to change the legal classification for which Mario Iorgulescu is being tried, from murder to manslaughter, a request rejected by the magistrates, writes Agerpres.
Mario Iorgulescu is hospitalized in a private clinic in Italy, his parents managed to get him out of the country with a private plane, immediately after the accident. He was not heard by prosecutors or magistrates, during the criminal prosecution or the court proceedings.
At the wheel of an Aston Martin car, in a state of rage due to jealousy, with a blood alcohol level of 1.96 g/l and under the influence of cocaine
In the evening of September 8, 2019, Mario Iorgulescu attended a party given by a friend’s family in the village of Gulia, Tărtăşeşti commune, where he consumed alcohol. At one point, he would have found out that his ex-girlfriend, whom he had just broken up with, was in a club in Herăstrău Park. The witnesses say that he argued continuously on the phone with his ex-girlfriend, he was nervous and yelled, but he promised the host that he would not get behind the wheel in his condition.
At the end of the party, at around 2:50 a.m., amid a fit of jealousy and in a state of anger, having a blood alcohol level of 1.96 g/l and being under the influence of cocaine, he got into his car, an Aston Martin DBS model, and left for the Capital, according to the prosecutors.
He entered Bucharest through Chitila, traveling at speeds between 140 km/h and 164 km/h (moments captured by the video cameras on the route), and at the intersection between Chitilei Road and Teodor Neagoe Street, he entered the red traffic light with the speed of 145 km/h, after which he accelerated to 162 km/h when he passed another vehicle traveling at low speed in lane I. Afterwards, he drove the car onto a curb, pressing the pedal to the maximum of acceleration, entered the opposite direction, where he collided head-on, at a speed of 143 km/h, with a car driven by a 24-year-old man, who died on the spot.
A witness to the accident told the court horrible scenes from the collision scene, the driver of the other car being found thrown to the ground.
A few days after the accident, Mario Iorgulescu was transferred by his family to Italy, on a private plane, and hospitalized in a clinic.
He was tried in absentia, and on February 10, 2023, he was sentenced by the Bucharest Court to 15 years and eight months in prison for murder and driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and drugs (cocaine).
Mario Iorgulescu had discernment at the time of the accident
In the sentencing decision, Judge Manuela Orzaţă from the Bucharest Court mentioned that Mario Iorgulescu had discernment at the time of the accident, did not suffer and does not currently suffer from mental illnesses that would prevent him from being transferred from Italy to participate in the lawsuit filed by the Romanian authorities, and if he has medical conditions, he can be treated without problems in the penitentiary system in our country.
Over the course of 59 pages, the magistrate who ordered the conviction explains the reasons why he ordered this punishment for Mario Iorgulescu, who left for Italy immediately after the accident in September 2019.
The magistrate says that the evidence in the file shows that Mario Iorgulescu had discernment at the time of the accident.
Also, Iorgulescu was driving a powerful vehicle that can turn into a weapon of crime at any time, he showed indifference to the consequences of his actions, “these aspects show an increased dangerousness of the defendant, disinhibition and serious disregard for road traffic rules”.
During the trial at the court, the lawyers and the Iorgulescu family requested the suspension of the trial, arguing that the young man has medical conditions that prevent him from participating in court debates, is hospitalized for treatment in a private clinic in Italy and is non-transferable from abroad.
Also, the lawyers argued that Mario Iorgulescu was not discerning at the time of the accident, as he had been diagnosed with mental disorders since childhood and requested the application of a safety measure, and not a prison sentence.
He doesn’t suffer from mental illness, as he claims / The powerful car he was driving could turn into a murder weapon at any time
However, these claims were dismantled by the judge Manuela Orzaţă, who wonders how Mario Iorgulescu got his driver’s license, since he suffered from mental illnesses since childhood.
The magistrate shows in his motivation that he does not currently suffer from mental disorders that would prevent him from being transferred from Italy to participate in the trial filed by the Romanian authorities, and if he has medical conditions, he can be treated without problems in the penitentiary system in our country.
“Therefore, if any doctor, during the entire period that the defendant held a driver’s license, had become aware of the existence of serious mental illnesses of such a nature as to declare the defendant psychologically unfit to drive vehicles on public roads, he would have the legal obligation to do so ( …)Such medical documents from which serious mental disorders could result were not submitted to the case file, the non-existence of these documents before the road accident being supported by the fact that he had a valid driver’s license on the date of the road accident (…) It cannot reasonably be accepted that a person’s parents would have allowed that person with a serious mental disorder to have access to such a powerful vehicle, which can be turned into a murder weapon at any time, without the risk of putting endangering not only the life of one’s own child, but also that of other people, and at the same time submitting to the risk of being accused of moral complicity in the commission of a crime against life”, says the magistrate.
Medical records that would show lack of discernment do not come from specialists
As for the medical documents submitted to the file by the Iorgulescu family, the judge shows that they represent the medical opinions of some specialists – a neurosurgeon and a psychologist – but which come from people who do not have the necessary qualification to ascertain the lack of discernment, defined as the faculty to discern, judge and appreciate things at their fair value.
Thus, in the report drawn up by the neurosurgeon, it was mentioned that “following the road accident in 2019, due to the severe cranio-cerebral trauma, the neuro-psychic phenomena were accentuated”, which, however, is contradicted by the medical documents drawn up at the UPU immediately after the accident, where the diagnosis is mentioned: “Road accident. Minor craniocerebral polytrauma (TCT)”.
The judge also says that the lawyers did not request a forensic psychiatric examination to establish whether or not Mario Iorgulescu had discernment at the time of committing the acts. The defenders requested such an expertise only to check if he can mentally participate in the trial.
The magistrate notes that, in cases of murder, psychiatric expertise is not mandatory and is required only in cases where the concrete way of committing the act (for example through cruelty, on two or more people, etc.) or from other aspects there is doubt about the person’s discernment at the time of committing the crime, which is not the case here.
In the judge’s opinion, Mario Iorgulescu had discernment at the time of the accident.
In this sense, a friend characterizes Mario Iorgulescu as having a lot of common sense – he went to the party before the accident with a bouquet of flowers for the celebrant, immediately after the accident he would have asked the people who came to help him if someone had died and told a woman his father’s phone number from memory.
“Standing cross-legged, slightly tanned, he remains silent when asked about aspects that the court deemed necessary”
The attitude displayed by Mario Iorgulescu in front of a representative of the Milan Court of Appeal, who visits him at the clinic where he is admitted, does not help him either.
“Under this aspect, it can be seen from the CD submitted by the Italian judicial bodies, at the request of the court, how the defendant, standing cross-legged, slightly tanned, remains silent when he is asked about certain aspects that the court deemed necessary, including his name and surname and other data necessary for identification (aspects regarding which he has no right to remain silent, according to the law, being able to remain silent only regarding the deed he is accused of). The defendant thus accepts the defense strategy of to remain silent and to invoke mental medical conditions that prevent him from participating in the trial, although by simply accepting this strategy the defendant proves that he understands what is happening”, the motivation also states.
“It cannot be claimed that the memory of Mario Iorgulescu was affected”
The lawyers argued that Mario Iorgulescu does not have a phone in the clinic where he is admitted, but he would hit the other people in the clinic, whose phone he takes, suggesting that this was the context in which he ended up talking to the witnesses in the file and the reporters from Romania.
The court shows that no evidence was submitted from the said clinic that would result in such serious acts (beatings, theft), and even in the hypothesis that Mario Iorgulescu stole phones from other people, this aspect implies recalling, from memory, the phone numbers of the witnesses and reporters with whom the son of the LPF chief spoke or recalling the account on social networks and entering the related passwords. As such, it cannot be claimed that Mario Iorgulescu’s memory was affected.
The court also notes that the family refused for Mario Iorgulescu to undergo a medical examination at the INML, arguing that he would be arrested as soon as he arrived in Romania.
2023-09-11 17:15:00
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