Mexican police found guilty in Ore. man's death
Sam Botner is pictured in this file photo By Associated PressPORTLAND, Ore. (AP) _ A judge has found four Mexican police officers guilty of homicide in the Aug. 27 death of an Oregon tourist, The Oregonian newspaper reported Tuesday. Sam Botner, 38, of Yoncalla, died less than an hour after he was taken to jail after stabbing another resident at a condominium in the resort town of San Jose del Cabo — at the southern tip of Mexico's Baja Peninsula. Prosecutors said a surveillance video showed officers beating Botner, and photos taken after the death showed a body covered in bruises. Botner had been vacationing with his wife after returning from a commercial fishing trip. An autopsy determined he had traces of marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine in his system at the time of his death. The autopsy concluded that Botner died of asphyxiation. Prosecutors attributed that to the jailhouse beating. Under remnants of the old Napoleonic Code there is no presumption of innocence in Mexico, so defendants must prove it. Mexico recently passed reforms creating a presumption of innocence, but states have eight years to put the changes into practice. The judge has a year to decide sentences for the four officers. All are likely to face a minimum of 10 years behind bars. Another officer was found guilty of abuse of authority and freed after he paid a fine. "I don't care if they're guilty or not. It doesn't bring him back," Carla Botner, Sam's mother, told The Oregonian after learning of the verdicts. "I just plead for mercy for everybody." |
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