Part 9: The Verdict

of the company's money. He was in regular contact with David before and after the murder. Even more important for the prosecution the Atala Zabla family is David's connection to the powers that run Honduras. For them, just getting Danniel Atala on the stand carries a lot of symbolic weight. Bear To herself often complained that wealthy and politically connected

business leaders are untouchable by the Honduran justice system. She and her backers have always alleged that a handful of rich families, the Atala Zablas among them, dominate the country's power structures. They contend that these families use their influence to buy protection from the government, from police and from judges. The notion that the Atala Zabla family might somehow be able to influence the outcome of this case has clung to it from the moment David Castillo was arrested as

a suspect. It's an idea that the Atala Zablas dismiss as ridiculous and paranoid, not not the wealthiest family in the country. By by farm we have, you know, a strong and us win group. But it's we. We don't have the loving capacity, we don't have the fund capacity. We don't have the funding capacity. That's Daniel Atala when we spoke to him last year. It's a extremely limited and we and the investment that we have lost, as you know, made of big dent in in our in

our finances. There are two kinds of prosecutors in this case, the state prosecutors and the private prosecutors who represent Berta's family. The private prosecutors big fear is that no matter how much evidence they present in court, David Castillo will still get off. That the Itala Zablas somehow will be able to shield David and themselves from punishment. So for them forcing a member of the Itala Zabla family to be grilled in the witness box is a test of the

court's integrity and independence. The defense has repeatedly appealed to the court to not make Daniel Latala testify, So this is a very big moment in the trial. But when Daniel Latala's name is called, he's not in the courtroom. The witness box is empty. To Bart's family, this is an ominous sign. A moment that seemed like a victory becomes a reminder that there are no guarantees in the

trial of David Castillo. In our final episode will take you all the way to the end of this trial, the judges will decide David Castillo's faith and not guilty. Verdict would allow him to reclaim a life that he says has been stolen from him. For Bart's family, a conviction would prove that justice in Honduras, five long years after they began searching for it, can still be found. I'm monte Reel and this is blood River. Danielle Atala is not in the courtroom when it comes time for

him to testify. His image pops up on a video screen. That's the judge asking if he can hear her. Okay, other witnesses in Europe, in Mexico, in the United States have testified remotely, but the prosecutors wanted to question a Tala face to face. So the judge asks, where are you when those things didn't He's into Goosey, Galpa, just minutes away from this courtroom, So why didn't he come in?

And when he says he didn't want to unnecessarily expose himself to COVID nineteen, he says his wife and his mother suffer from respiratory problems. He says he stayed home for them. But there are only a handful of people in the courtroom. Witnesses keep their distance from them. Everyone's wearing masks. The judge orders him to come into court

as soon as possible. This seems like a resounding symbolic victory for the private prosecutors, and a few hours later he's there in the witness box, getting a microphone clip to his shirt, getting sworn in, and almost immediately he addresses the much. He tells the judge that, on the advice of his lawyers, he's decided not to testify. He informs the judge that he Danielle is himself under investigation for this murder. That being the case, he can't be

forced to talk about it in court. The mood immediately changes in the room, particularly among the team of private prosecutors. They don't seem ready for this revelation. They huddled together, whispering among themselves at their tables. They say they're not aware that an official investigation of Danielle has been opened.

The judge says she isn't either, but the public prosecutors the state's attorneys, say yes, it's true, Danielle is being investigated, and because of that, it's his constitutional right to remain silent. The private prosecutors say, if he's ever been interrogated about this crime, it's news to them. They argue that to let him off the hook would be a violation, an abuse of the rights of the victims. It's an awkward situation.

Both sets of prosecutors, the state and the private teams, are supposed to be working toward a common goal, a conviction, But even from the very first days after the murder, Bart's family has occasionally been critical of the state's handling of the investigation, and now the private prosecutors seem to be arguing with the public prosecutors. This goes on for about a half an hour, and finally the judge delivers

the decision. The court won't force him to testify. The judge just have sided with the defense and the public prosecutors. Danielle A Tala is free to go. Danielle unclips the microphone from his shirt, steps out of the witness box, and walks out of the courtroom. For those watching the trial, it's hard to make sense of what just happened. Joseph Barra is a law professor at U c l A

who's monitoring the trial for numerous human rights organizations. He says, there are a couple of ways of looking at Atala's abrupt exit. It did kind of lead to some suspicions. I guess in the worst view or more cynical view, was there some kind of confabulation and to protect him by saying giving him that argument and said, yeah, you're

under investigation, so you can avoid this testimony. This raises the possibility that the state prosecutors actually might be protecting Atala, and if that's true, they're undermining the case against David. On social media, Some of Berta's backers point out that the government has known about the connections between David and Danielle Atala, since they wonder why the state waited until

now to reveal that Atala is under investigation. Was it only to protect him from testifying, But Barris says there's another way of looking at this. Maybe Danielle Atala isn't being protected by the state. Maybe he's being pursued more

aggressively than anyone suspected. Now, I guess the positive is that if he is under investigation, there's potential so that they could take the information that the family has been pointing at for a long time now that there is a network and a structure that was involved in this crime that goes beyond the vie Castillo. After daniel Atala has dismissed, the private prosecutors call several other witnesses. Their testimony takes weeks, and then it's finally the defense's turn.

Their strategy is pretty straightforward. David has been framed. Maybe it was malice or maybe just in competence. Either way, his lawyers argue that the police botched everything. Here's one illustration that they highlight in court. It has to do with Mariano Diaz. Diaz, remember, was a middleman. He's already been convicted for helping to arrange the logistics of Bart's murder. The day of his arrest, Diaz gave a statement to

the police. He said that Dess's former head of security had offered him about twenty thou dollars to help plan the murder, and DS says the money came from Dess's manager. Prosecutors say he was referring to David. The statement was read in court, but Diaz never actually signed it and it wasn't dated. The defense attorneys say this renders the statement worthless. The defense says another example of police incompetence

centers on Brenda Barajona. She's the telephone expert who extracted most of the text, messages and calls that implicated David. His lawyers have questioned her qualifications, her training, her technological expertise, and they've done this inside and outside of the courtroom. They say they've uncovered one and thirty errors of fact in her analysis. They say she quote hid messages that

proved David and Verta were friends. They say she ignored messages suggesting other groups not Dessa also clashed with Berta, and Barahona didn't investigate them. That's from a video clip disparaging Barahona's work. David's team distributed it via social media. The defense team says their own experts dugout text that Barrajona ignored, and one of them is related to a key exchange between David and Douglas Bustillo. It's an exchange we've talked about several times in this series. The Mission

Aborted texts. Bustillo, if you recalled, was the former head of security for Dessa at the Damn site. Barajona says he acted as the point man between David and the lower level hit men who carried out the killing. Remember that Barrijonah suggests that David and Boustillo originally planned the murder for February, about a month before Berta was actually killed.

She says that plan fell through because Barta's family was with her when the hitman went to her house, and this was when Boustillo and David exchanged messages referring to a Mission Aborted. Before the trial, David had explained to me that bar Ijona completely misinterpreted this text. David says, when Boustillo messaged him in early February saying mission aborted. He was talking about a trip he'd planned to take to Choluteca. That's a town where Dessa was developing a

solar project. David says he wanted Bostio to check it out because they'd been having problems with local gangs near the solar project. He couldn't not travel to the part that a specific date he was going to travel at a later date. David's team argues that they know of texts that specifically referenced this aborted trip to cho Luteca, and in court they asked an expert to read one such exchange that was extracted from Bustillo's phone. In this

chat string, Bustillo references a job that he's doing. He's asked where it's located, and his response is read aloud in court that he had. He answers that it's at an energy plant in the South. He says, Castillo called me yesterday. In another message ten days later, Bustillo is asked where he's at there it is Luca. However, the prosecutors seem ready for this. They point out the dates

of those texts. March eight, in March eighteenth. Berta was killed on March three, so the references to this trip to Choluteca come after Berta's murder, after police began investigating the crime, and after members of Barta's family urged the police to investigate Dessa as a suspect. The prosecutors suggest this is just another example of David's deception, that these after the fact references to Choluteca our attempts to establish an alibi, that he was just trying to cover his tracks.

The defense isn't done trying to use text messages to undermine the prosecution's case. One exchange they highlight is between Berta and someone identified as Heronimo. The defense says Heronimo is Oreleano Molina, an ex boyfriend of Berta's. The exchange was from June three, less than a year before the murder.

It's extremely cryptic, but in it, Berta and Areliano discuss a piece of land a. Reliano suggests to her the land might be used to quote let a bird land bear to respond if there's no impact in the process. He replies, there could be an impact, you can't be sure. A bit later, bert To send him another message she writes one time, no more. David's defense leaves the meaning of this open to interpretation. There's no other evidence presented to elaborate on it, but their suggestion is clear to

the court that Berta was involved in something shady. On Twitter, an account dedicated to David's defense suggests that the bird was an airplane. The Twitter post states that the exchange quote alludes to narco trafficking and what could have been another line of investigation. Remember that this trial is being live streamed and that spectators are commenting in real time in the comments section next to the video feed. David's

supporters pounce on this accusation. They suggest Berta was a drug dealer and that Brenda Barahona protected her by not revealing these text messages earlier. To Bert's supporters, this feels like an outrage, but it's one they say they've come to expect. Karen Spring is a Canadian activist in Honduras. She was a friend of Berta's and worked with her on several campaigns. She says this strategy of personal attack felt familiar to her. That's something that um they try,

government or companies try. Wealthy companies, wealthy families try and do to sort of say these people are bad people, they're involved in drug trafficking, and therefore they get whatever comes to them. She says these smears are particularly common

against women. It was obviously alarming, you know, because you if people are watching and they don't understand those themes and those sort of um patterns, then it's easy to fall into sort of question, well, maybe she was involved with some bad guys, or maybe she was involved in drug trafficking. But it's such a common pattern that it

wasn't surprising to me at all. The private prosecutors have insisted that gender and sexism are integral parts of this case, and Berta's daughters Bertita, Isabel, and Laura routinely refer to their mother's murder as a femicide. They say there's a machismo embedded in the Honduran political, economic, and justice systems. Barretta's daughters say that mindset is at the root of the harassment, bear to endure it as an activist. They argue that it hasn't gone away, that Berta is still

a victim of it right here in this trial. One of the final witnesses for the defense is a telephone expert who is hired by David's lawyers. He scoured Berta's phones and came up with additional messages and recordings that the prosecutors didn't include in the evidence they entered. Yet in the end, the prosecutors become interested in some of the messages he's extracted from her phone. They asked him to play one in the courtroom. A voice that's been

silent throughout all these weeks of testimony rings out. It's Bear too. Thank you, colleagues. We are urgently denouncing that we are being harassed and illegally detained by employees of DESSA, the company Dessa of the Aguasarka Project Depreto Electric Sarca. The message was recorded about three months before her murder. On the day of the recording, her organization Copeine was holding a protest against Desasaguasarca Damn and the protesters ran

into resistance. Bear To recorded this message to let other backers of her cause know what's going on. Those employees are being supported by the military police. They have a private security company, and they are blocking the Copenen buses and threatening to damage them. They're insulting and offending us, and these slurs are full of racism, of discrimination, and sexism in the understands offense. For those who Knubert to this moment is powerful to them. It's as if she's

there in court testifying against David and his company. After nearly three months of testimony, it's time for the closing arguments. The state prosecutors lay out the bones of their case. They review the key text messages and witness statements, and they sketch a portrait of David as a killer, an executive driven by the simple desire to protect his interests and to undermine anyone who threatened them. The private prosecutors representing the victims try to put the case ace in

a broader context. They say, David needs to be in prison, but this trial is bigger than him, and it's bigger than bear to The private prosecutors tell the judges they have a historic opportunity to break a cycle of impunity for the powerful and Honduras. They point out that David comes from a life of privilege and that he doesn't fit the stereotype of a cold blooded killer. But the

prosecutors warn that appearances can deceive. To meet David Castillo judging by his appearance, his background, nobody would think he's capable of committing a crime like this one because he doesn't have the appearance of a classic criminal. But this is the profile, these behaviors at this level that have shaped the history of this country. It's from these positions of power, and not just through this act, but many acts, that they've destroyed the social fabric, that they've destroyed the

institutions of this country. It is this observation that David wasn't a typical murder suspect resonated with me. I'd met David, He'd looked me in the eye, repeatedly insisting that he was innocent. That he too, mourned Bear to his death. He said, he admired her. Berta was my friend. It could not bring my mind to do any harm, not only to Berta, to any human being. I'd met his mother, his oldest friends. I'd spoken with his former classmates at

West Point. All of them were certain of his innocence. They couldn't imagine that he could be even tangentially involved in a murder, much less planed one. I'm convinced their faith and trust in him was sincere. They had no hesitancy in vouching for him. They believe he's a good man. They love him. Try to imagine, just for a moment, that David deserves their trust, that he's been falsely accused. If that's the case, those friends and family members have

been deeply wronged. And then, of course there's the other possibility. What if David didn't deserve that trust. In that case, the suffering they've endured over the past three years seems even worse. It seems cruel. Berta and her family and everyone who loved her there obviously the primary victims, but no matter the outcome of this trial, they're not going to be the only ones. Murders like this are insidious. The stims multiply before the judges reached their verdict. There's

one more step in this trial. The judges want to give the people directly affected by this case a chance to address the court. First, the judges here from Bart's family, her children, Yes, very sorry. His daughter, Bartita Isabel tells the judges that her mother raised her and all of her siblings to recognize injustice, to always fight on behalf of people whose rights had been trampled. But she says she never thought they'd have to apply those lessons to

their own mother. Barrett's youngest daughter, Laura, tells the judges that by fighting for her now, they're fighting for all the women and mothers who have been victims of violence, But she says it's a fight that won't bring back all the hugs and the knights with her that they've lost. Next is Berta's son Salvador. He's kept a much lower profile than his sisters in the years following his mother's murder.

He addresses the court from a remote video feed. He tells the judges that this is a unique opportunity to punish not just low level hitmen the poor who are paid to kill, but to punish those who pay them, the economic powers that support a culture of murder. Together, the Cassarus family issues a unified plea deliver a ulty verdict and set a precedent that might protect future victims and prevent similar crimes. Then, for the first time during

this trial, David Castillo speaks. He greets everyone in the courtroom, including Barton's daughters, but they're not interested in listening to him. Both gather their things, rise and walk out of the courtroom. As he talks. He says he first wants to thank God for the life he's living, despite the challenges of the past couple of years, and even though bar To

his children have left the courtroom, David addresses them. I want to say, especially to all of the family members of Is, that I had nothing to do with her murder, neither directly or indirectly. I want to underscore that I did not participate at all. I had no payments, I didn't intervene at all. I had no involvement in the logistics or in getting weapons. I want to state this

so that it's clear and present in your minds. Again, he says that he and bear To were friends, friends who held different points of view on a lot of things, but friends nonetheless. While mentioning this, David refers to his mother, to Nora, she's sitting in a chair near the rear of the courtroom, working her hands nervously. He says his mother always raised him to be a good Christian, to respect others, and to accept those who don't share the

same beliefs. He speaks of his father, who died shortly after he was detained in prison. He speaks of his children who haven't seen their father in three years in four months. This has been difficult for me too, obviously, but God has a plan from my life. I don't understand it and I don't question it. Throughout the trial, the prosecutors have described David as a representative of a

powerful economic and political class. He addresses this, I have felt at a disadvantage going against the state prosecutors and the teams of private prosecutors, because in reality I don't have political or economic power. However, you all you do through your systems of communication, with all the political support that your organizations received, all your David ends his statement asking that the court evaluate all the evidence fairly impartially so that he might soon be able to get his

life back. And that's that. The judges dismiss everyone so they can spend the next several days reviewing the evidence, and after that they'll call them all back to the courtroom for the announcement of the verdict. Five days later, the judges sent out a message they've reached a verdict. Crowds of Bartes supporters gather outside of the court house. For months now, they've transformed the sidewalk in the busy street in front of the building into a sort of

shrine to Bart. They burn incense and arrange candles and flowers around her portrait. Some hold signs with pictures of her smiling. Others hold pictures of David with one word scrawled across his face, guilty. Inside the small courtroom, the judges have allowed ten people from David's side and ten from Berts to sit in the back. The lead judge greets them and assures them that the court has been impartial, that the judges have not allowed themselves to be influenced

by any outside interests. She now says she'll read the court's verdict, which was unanimous. She begins with a straightforward review of the facts of the case. She outlines the damn project, bear to opposition to it, and David's role as CEO of Deessa. In that context, managers who oversaw the hydroelectric project, including the director, Mr David Castillo, so to take action to neutralize the movements and opposition of

Mrs Berta cass and others in the organization Copine. The camera in the court doesn't show David or the judges. It's pointed at the spectators in the back of the court. Most sit motionless, listening intently. In the front row. David's mother sits with her hands in her lap. Her back is perfectly straight and her heads held high, but when the judge flatly states that her son sought to quote

neutralize bar to his actions, her head slumps. The lead judge says the evidence against David was circumstantial, but she says it's the accumulation of numerous strands of circumstantial evidence that has allowed them to reach a verdict. She points out that David's lawyers suggested that there was evidence that others besides David and Essa might have wanted Bear Too dead. They implied that other companies that Bear to fought against,

or even criminals or drug traffickers my eight, have been involved. These, in the opinion of this Court, were left as mere hypothesis, unconfirmed and furthermore contradicted by others that are in fact supported by the technical evidence intercepted from various communications, such as extraction of information from telephones and mobile devices, including those of Mrs Berta Cassidys, Douglas, Bustillo, Si Rodriguez, and the defendant himself, David Castillio. David's mother sits with her

arms crossed over her chest, staring straight ahead. The judge continues, due to all of the above, the Federal Court is fully convinced that the circumstantial evidence presented, in addition to being sufficient and consistent, establishes with certain did that Roberto Castillo has been involved in this case as a co author of the crime of murder against Berta Isabel Cassiris. He took actions to carry out that objective, had control and played a role in how and where the crime

would be committed. It's at this point one of the spectators reaches out to Barton's daughter Laura and grasps her hand, a gesture that conveys not so much celebration as a simple relief. We as a result, convicted Mr David Castigio

for the crime of murder against Berta Isabel Cassidism. After the verdict, Berta's daughter, Bertita Isabel leads a crowd gathered outside in a familiar chant Berta didn't die, she multiplied if a condat the guilty verdict issued by Discourt means the structures of power didn't succeed in this case in breaking the system of justice and the criminal organization of the Tela Sabla family, which was instrumental in the guilt

of David Castillo, did not achieve its goals. Also hit you with her family hasn't achieved all of its goals either. She says, David Castillo's conviction is a monumental step in their quest for justice, but she promises that it won't be the last one. The judges today haven't determined David's sentence that will come months from now in separate proceedings. In Honduras, the minimum sentence for planning a murder is twenty years. The maximum is Barrett's family promises to push

for the harshest penalty possible it is. She says, her family will continue to demand that the investors behind Essa, including Daniel Atala and the rest of his family, be convicted as well. Bartita Isabel hands the microphone to the lead prosecutor for the family. He says, hundreds of activists and environmentalists have been murdered in Honduras in the past decade. He hopes this may be the first conviction of many to follow. As he speaks, bar Titza Isabel makes a

phone call. She connects with her grandmother Barts his mother. She's eighty eight years old and she couldn't make it to the courthouse today, But bartite Isabelle takes the microphone back and holds it to her cell phone. Bart's mother wants to thank the people who supported her daughter and her family throughout the five long years of this legal process.

Bart's mother fights back tears. She says that the trial has brought back painful memories she's had to relive her daughter's murder, but today, with the verdict, she feels a measure of relief. She says, now her grief brings her just a little less pain. In a parking lot near the courthouse, David Castillo is led into the back of a large transport truck. The bed of the truck has a canopy over it, but the sides are open. Two armed guards stand in front of him. He sits on

a wooden bench. He's wearing jeans, tennis shoes, a clean white jacket, and handcuffs. Photographers from the local press snap pictures of him as the truck pulls away and carries him to prison. What River is reported and written by me monte reel Go for Foreheads is our senior producer. A theme was composed and performed by Senia Rubinos. Special thanks to Carlos Rodrigue. Francesca Levi is the head of

Bloomberg PODCAS. Be sure to subscribe if you haven't already, and if you like what you hear, please leave us a review. It helps others find out about the show. Thanks for listening.