In February 2018, he shot one of two brothers who were committing a robbery at his property in Porreres. Mauricio Escobar later died in hospital.
In September last year, a Palma jury found him guilty of having caused the death. The verdict of guilty was by five to four and it led to considerable legal debate. A five to four majority was insufficient, and the judge should not have accepted the verdict for this reason.
Last December, a court determined that the jury had gravitated in two directions - acquittal or a sentence with mitigation. "Given doubts as to what the jury really wanted to disclose, a ruling of acquittal must be possible as the adequate majority had not been reached. These doubts, not cleared up, lead to the application of the 'in dubio pro reo' principle in favour of Pau Rigo and acquittal." 'In dubio pro reo' means that a defendant cannot be convicted if doubts about guilt remain.
The high court now says: "The decisive thing is that, although the jury stopped short of finding Sr. Rigo guilty of justified homicide, it also did not find him not guilty. From this it follows that there was no valid verdict." There were "inconsistencies" in the majorities of the votes for the different options presented to the jury.
As there was no valid verdict - "neither for nor against" - and "there was a patent contradiction", the high court has concluded that there must be a complete retrial. This means that Pau Rigo, now 84, will go on trial again, as will the brother of Mauricio Escobar, Fredy, and two others - José Antonio Sánchez Lara and Marcos Rotger Vidal. They were all found guilty of the robbery and handed sentences ranging from three years to four years eight months.
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