Could Joran van der Sloot Get the Death Penalty in Peru for Murder of Stephany Flores?

Could Joran van der Sloot possibly get the death penalty in Peru for the murder of Stephany Flores? The answer is quite simply, no.

While Peru is one of nine countries in the world that does have the death penalty, it has many limitations. Peruvian law reads something to the effect that the death penalty may be considered, but only for crimes "committed in exceptional circumstances". This means that only crimes that are committed in times of war or genocide or crimes under military law can be considered as death penalty cases.

Peruvian President Alan Garcia wanted to introduce the death penalty into law in 2007, for terrorists, but even that bill was rejected. A poll taken in '07 determined that more than 70% of Peruvians were in favor of instituting a death penalty in their country.

Murder is considered a fairly ordinary crime in Peru, so that won't even be a consideration in the case of Joran van der Sloot. It is almost incomprehensible that he was never tried for the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. Now he has confessed to murdering Stephany Flores. Speculation has him serving only 15-35 years at the most. The Peruvian system is actually designed so that criminals who confess will be given more lenient sentences by the judge.

See video below that talks about the lack of the death penalty in Peru, and what speculation says about van der Sloot's possible sentence.

Source: K. Ripley, NewsGather.com, June 8, 2010

Joran van der Sloot Confesses To Murder, Will Get 15-35 Years “At The Most”

Joran van der Sloot could be formally charged as early as Tuesday in the killing of Stephany Flores Ramirez, Peruvian government authorities said.

The government authorities said Van der Sloot confessed to murder late Monday. He will likely be held at one of three maximum security prisons — Castro Castro, Piedras Gordas and Lurigancho, authorities said.

Efforts by CNN to contact van der Sloot’s attorney were not immediately successful. At his first court appearance, the judge may set a hearing date for van der Sloot and could order additional investigations in the case. The Peruvian justice system often issues a lighter sentence in cases where the suspect confesses. That may have influenced his alleged confession. Van der Sloot could get up to 35 years in prison. There is no death penalty or life sentence in Peru.

A Peruvian police report leaked Monday said Flores was found in his hotel room on the floor, half-dressed. The report provides new details about the hours before Flores’ body was found. Van der Sloot, who was twice arrested in connection with the disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005.

Wow since there’s no death penalty or life sentence in Peru, they need to lock that boy up under the prison or something.

Source: CNN.com, June 8, 2010

Police say Van der Sloot confessed

LIMA, Peru | Joran Van der Sloot (left) — long the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of a U.S. teen in Aruba — has confessed to killing a Peruvian woman in his Lima hotel room, police said Tuesday.

Officials said plans are in place to take Van der Sloot to the hotel where the 21-year-old business student was killed on May 30.

Officials also said Tuesday that police have until the weekend to file charges against the Dutchman for the May 30 killing of Stephany Flores.

The beating death occurred exactly five years after Natalee Holloway, an 18-year-old American, disappeared in Aruba — an assumed death in which Van der Sloot has been considered the prime suspect by authorities on the Dutch island in the Caribbean.

It wasn’t clear if Van der Sloot was represented by an attorney in Peru, and there was no comment from him or his family about the reported confession.

Peru’s chief police spokesman, Col. Abel Gamarra, told The Associated Press late Monday that Van der Sloot confessed earlier in the day.

Several Peruvian media outlets reported, without identifying their sources, that he admitted killing Flores in a rage after learning she looked up information about his past on his laptop without permission.

La Republica said Van der Sloot tearfully confessed, in the presence of a prosecutor and a state-appointed attorney, to grabbing Flores by the neck and hitting her because she had viewed images about the Aruba case on his computer while he was out buying coffee.

Gamarra, senior police officials and prosecutors would not provide details of the alleged confession, which came on Van der Sloot’s third full day in Peruvian custody.

Meanwhile, the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant quoted the suspect’s lawyer in the Netherlands as suggesting the confession may have been coerced.

“Joran told his mother crying Monday that he was being interrogated under reasonably barbaric conditions,” the paper quoted Bert De Rooij saying. “He said the police were trying to force him to confess.”

Under such conditions, he said, the “confession was possibly false.”

Officials at the Dutch Embassy, who said the suspect’s family was attempting to obtain private counsel for Van der Sloot, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Flores, the daughter of a Peruvian circus impresario and former race car driver, was found beaten to death, her neck broken, in the 22-year-old Dutchman’s hotel room. Police said the two met playing poker at a casino.

Source: kansascity.com, June 8, 2010

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