Carlos Ovidio Acevedo Navas, in a hearing this Thursday, July 2, was benefited with substitute measures by the Ninth Criminal Sentencing Court and will be released from preventive detention that he maintained for more than six months.
Acevedo Navas will face justice for having repeatedly run over Larkin Morales, who was driving a motorcycle, in an event that occurred in September 2025 in zone 9 of the capital.
In her resolution, Judge Verónica Ruiz took into account a circular issued by the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, in which judges were asked that preventive detention be applied as a last resort and that substitute measures be privileged.
The judge also considered that the danger of flight was eliminated because the defendant has shown a willingness to appear at the hearings of the criminal process.
Likewise, he estimated that the danger of hindering the investigation of the truth was overcome, because the Public Ministry (MP) already has the evidence.
Among the measures granted to Carlos Ovidio Acevedo Navas are house arrest, the prohibition of leaving the country without judicial authorization and the obligation to submit to the care or supervision of a person who must ensure the presence of the defendant at the different hearings.
You must also go to the MP during the first five days of each month to register your fingerprint in the biometric system; He will be prohibited from communicating with witnesses and experts who will appear at the trial, and will have to pay a financial bond of Q15 thousand, which would be delivered to Larkin Morales if the accused is found guilty in the debate.
On June 9, the second criminal judge, Maximino Morales, accepted all the evidence that will be processed in the trial against Carlos Ovidio Acevedo Navas, accused of attempted homicide.
Mónica Cuque, mother of Larkin Morales, declared this Thursday to the press: “What the people gave me, which are prayers, is what has strengthened my son. Prayers throughout the country, not leaving us alone, continuing with us at all times, from a distance, from wherever they are. It is incredible what is happening in Guatemala and will continue to happen because we do nothing to change.”
He added: “If this case does not have a good end, we are lost as a country. It is true that there are international rights and that they are consolidated with the rights here, but it is justice, it is the judges who make the decision.”
“I really hold the justice of the country responsible, the judge, whoever they are. I leave them the criminal and civil responsibility for what happens both with the man and with the future of my son. The responsibility falls on them by name of each judge,” he said regarding the granting of substitute measures in favor of Acevedo Navas.
According to Cuque, there is “selective justice” in the country and he hopes that justice will be done in his son’s case.
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With information from Ángel Oliva