On December 1st, the news will focus on the judgment of the Club Kiss case, a fire that left 242 dead in Santa Maria (RS) and moved Brazil. The club’s managers and partners, Elissandro Spohr and Mauro Hoffmann, musician Marcelo de Jesus dos Santos and music producer Luciano Bonilha Leão will be tried for 242 homicides and 636 attempted homicides.

The  criminal lawyer Renan Farah , specializing in jury, explains that the defendants go to jury trial because they were denounced by homicide with eventual intent. “The big discussion that this case raises is the difference between eventual intent and the so-called conscious guilt. The eventual intent happens when the agent predicts that their actions will have a bad result, but goes ahead assuming the risk that something will happen, showing that they don’t care about the result” , he explains.

According to Farah, the so-called conscious guilt happens when the subject foresees a bad result, but does not believe it will happen. “The difference is fine. Occasional willful misconduct has become increasingly common in the courts, but it is very difficult to prove. And the burden of proof is always on whoever accuses” , he comments.

The reason for the accusations
On January 27, 2013, a member of the band Gurizada Fandangueira lit a light for external use inside the club. The sparks ignited the foam that made the sound insulation and this released toxic gases that killed most victims by suffocation.

Farah explains that the charge for eventual intent was based on the defendants’ actions during the fire.  “The prosecution understood that, even if the partners did not light the light that caused the fire, they installed inadequate sound insulation, allowed the nightclub to be overcrowded, did not provide fire extinguishers in adequate quantities” , he explains.

In addition, investigations showed that the club did not have adequate emergency exits and many victims were prevented from leaving the club by security guards, who obeyed the order of one of the owners, who feared that people would not pay the bills.

Criminal lawyer Renan Farah

Restoration
Generally, trials take place in the cities where the crimes took place, but in the case of Boate Kiss, it was transferred to Porto Alegre. “In law, we call this embezzlement. It usually happens in cases of great commotion and repercussion, so that the jurors are not influenced. Santa Maria is a small town, many people lost someone in the tragedy, it would hardly be an exempt jury” , he explains.

The expert explains that this trial will be emblematic, both for the commotion it provoked and for the particularity of the accusations. “It will certainly be the longest jury in Rio Grande do Sul. In addition, it has all the elements to be a case study in law schools, as the agents, prosecution and defense, will use technical and emotional tools to convert 4 of the 7 jurors in favor of his thesis” , evaluates Farah.

Bruno Vinicius da Silva
press officer