The judicial process against Sebastián Zapeta Calil, the Guatemalan accused of burning a woman in the New York Metro and who faces the life imprisonment, continues to advance after another hearing held this Wednesday, May 7 in the Supreme Court of Brooklyn.
Zapeta entered the room of Judge Danny Chan with his hand handcuffed and dressed in the orange monkey of the Rikers Island prison, where he remains since he was arrested last December. He followed the session with the help of an interpreter of the Court, as in previous occasions.
At the March 12 hearing, Judge Chan approved the motion of the Brooklyn Prosecutor’s Office to be used, in a trial without date, a DNA test carried out to Zapeta. This Wednesday, the magistrate wanted to know the status of the case.
The Prosecutor’s Office, who accuses Zapeta of the murder of Debrina Kawan, which occurred on December 22, reported during the brief hearing – less than three minutes – that in the next few days he will receive the results of that DNA test, but that he is still waiting for the report of the Forensic Medical and the Fire Department.
The judge set a new hearing for June 25.
Zapeta, 33, is accused of four positions related to Kawan’s death, a homeless person who slept in a subway car when, allegedly, the accused burned her. He declared himself not guilty.
After observing the video of the subway security cameras that captured what happened, the defendant told the authorities that he did not remember what he had done because he was drunk.
According to the Federal Immigration Agency, Zapeta, who remains detained without the bail, entered the US illegally by Arizona and was deported in 2018. It is unknown when he returned to the country. In Guatemala he has a wife and children. Sebastián Zapeta Calil, Debrina Kawan, US justice, Guatemalans in the US.