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On Thursday, Justice Secretary Domingo Emanuelli Hernández appeared under the threat of contempt at a joint executive session of the Senate committees on Community Initiatives, Mental Health and Addiction; and Legal Affairs and Economic Development.
Both committees summoned the secretary to further investigate issues arising from Senate Resolution 933, initiated by the committee chairs, Sen. José Vargas Vidot and Senate President José Luis Dalmau Santiago, aiming to examine the administrative processes linked to the release of inmates under Law 25-1992 and the circumstances involving inmate Hermes Ávila Vázquez.
Convicted of murder in 2005, Ávila Vázquez was freed under an early release program permitting inmates with certain terminal conditions to leave prison. Nevertheless, he murdered Ivette Joan Meléndez Vega in Manatí earlier this year, as he admitted. Although diagnosed as paraplegic, it was later revealed that he could walk. The Corrections and Rehabilitation Department is now under scrutiny for allowing his release.
The Senate president attributed the need for a joint hearing to government accountability, noting that Emanuelli Hernández is the third secretary called under contempt during this inquiry, following the secretaries of Health, Carlos Mellado López, and Correction and Rehabilitation, Ana Escobar Pabón.
“Requesting public documents has proven to be exceptionally challenging; we’ve had to resort to legal avenues,” stated Dalmau Santiago.
After failing to attend the initial summons, the Justice secretary requested to testify in an executive hearing, “because he did not wish to discuss the specific details of the investigation,” Dalmau Santiago noted, and both committees consented.
“We cannot interfere with an investigation conducted by another agency, but the Resolution passed by a majority in this Senate authorizes both committees to act accordingly based on that resolution and its investigation,” added the Senate president.
Vargas Vidot emphasized that the interpretation of Law 25 of 1992 and the former inmate’s case is significant, stating, “this resolution is not isolated; it emerged following the murder of Meléndez Vega by Hermes Ávila after his release under Law 25.”
He highlighted that “it was the Justice secretary himself who on June 25 indicated that the report from his office [of the investigation into Hermes Ávila] would be finalized by September 15,” which he failed to do, prompting the summons.
Before Emanuelli Hernández attended the joint hearing under threat of contempt, Vargas Vidot remarked, “I hope the routine legislative process isn’t being distracted by the upcoming elections.”
Upon exiting the joint hearing, the attending senators expressed their disappointment with Emanuelli Hernández’s responses.
“Nothing was disclosed at this hearing that the people of Puerto Rico were not already aware of,” said Sen. Rafael Bernabe Riefkohl. “There was no justification for holding an executive hearing.”
Prior to the joint session, Emanuelli Hernández asserted his legal and ethical obligation to ensure investigations are performed in an objective, honest, and reliable way.
“It is well-known that criminal investigations must be confidential to uphold these principles and achieve a truthful, precise, and equitable outcome,” he remarked. “What could be the public interest of a Justice secretary in publicly disclosing an ongoing criminal investigation that has not yet concluded?”
The subpoena issued on Monday by the committee chaired by Vargas Vidot specifically indicated that the purpose of the original hearing scheduled for Thursday was to address “the facts pertaining to Mr. Hermes Ávila Vázquez, accused of the femicide of Ivette Joan Meléndez Vega in the early hours of April 21, 2024, in Manatí.”
“Given this, we had to responsibly decline to attend,” Emanuelli Hernández explained. “As I confirmed yesterday, the process led by the Public Integrity Division of the Department of Justice regarding the release of convict Hermes Ávila Vázquez is nearing its conclusion.”
In response, Vargas Vidot remarked that “essentially what Emanuelli is conveying is that, ultimately, it is the secretary’s discretion, meaning he can choose whenever he wants” to attend a Senate hearing.
