The Supreme Court's Second Chamber rejected in a divided ruling an amparo appeal filed by the defense of Hernán Meneses, the 18-year-old student charged with the homicide of inspector María Victoria Reyes at a Calama high school on March 27.
The highest court upheld the Antofagasta Appeals Court decision and dismissed the suspension of proceedings based on an alleged mental alienation of the accused. The magistrates noted that the submitted reports show only personality traits and no impairment preventing the defendant from understanding the unlawful nature of his acts.
The ruling orders the Guarantee Court to arrange a forensic report from the Legal Medical Service on Meneses's mental faculties. Three justices voted to reject the appeal, while two dissenting justices believed the action should be granted and provisional hospitalization ordered.
The events took place on March 27 at the Obispo Silva Lazaeta Institute in Calama, where the student attacked two inspectors and three students with a knife. María Victoria Reyes, 59, died after being stabbed in the chest. The Public Prosecutor's Office formalized charges of qualified homicide and four frustrated homicides against him and ordered his preventive detention on March 31.
