Jury begins in Goiás top hat accused of ordering the murder of journalist almost a decade ago

Nine years and eleven months ago, broadcaster and commentator from Goiás, Valério Luiz de Oliveira, was surprised by six shots from a 38-caliber revolver. Four of the projectiles hit him at point-blank range on July 5, 2012, as indicated by the powder stains found expertise.

Former president of Atlético Goianiense Maurício Sampaio was denounced as the alleged mastermind of the double qualified murder by the MP (Public Prosecutor’s Office) and spent 94 days in prison. After attempts by Sampaio’s defense to postpone the trial for the fourth time, the jury trial began this Monday (13). The seven jurors will hear 30 testimony from witnesses – five from each defendant plus five selected by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The defendant’s defense denies any connection between the businessman and the crime and claims that the precariousness of the investigation led the police to find false connections.

Today a real estate entrepreneur, Sampaio was vice president of Dragão and holder of a notary’s office in Goiânia in the year in which the crime occurred. With the club in last place in the Brasileirão table, the former notary left the board and heard the following statement from Oliveira, then a commentator for PUC TV de Goiás: “in an adventure film, when the boat is sinking, the rats are the first to jump out”.

A supporter of the Goiás team, the journalist, because of the harsh criticism he made, came to be considered “persona non grata” by the club in a letter signed by Sampaio. He was also sued when he said that Dragon players were using drugs in the locker room. He ended up murdered for exercising the profession, defends the MP.

Called by the businessman in a statement to the Civil Police as “voluntary security” during Atlético’s games, military police officer Ademá Figueiredo Aguiar Filho was the one who shot Oliveira. At least, that’s what the prosecution claims.

Three other defendants are accused of collaborating with the planning of the broadcaster’s murder: PM sergeant Djalma Gomes da Silva, also a security guard for Sampaio; Urbano Carvalho Malta, employee of Sampaio; and the butcher Marcus Vinícius Pereira Xavier.

Representative of Silva, Malta and Aguiar Filho, lawyer Thales Jayme declared that he wants the case to be judged. “The case is relatively good for the defense. The lack of evidence is glaring.” Xavier’s defender, attorney Rubens Alvarenga Dias, said he will not comment on the case.

To get to the top hat, the Civil Police broke the telematic secrecy of two phones supposedly registered by Carvalho Malta with data on oranges and found calls to Sampaio moments after the crime. The registered CPFs appeared on a check held by the Sampaio employee.

The businessman’s defense, headed by lawyer Luiz Carlos da Silva Neto, contested the MP’s thesis in a manifesto released last Monday (6). The text highlights, among other criticisms of the investigation, that it is not possible to link telephone numbers with the available evidence.

But the defense’s focus has not been on the evidence to be presented to the jurors, but on the thesis that the president of the jury, Judge Lourival Machado da Costa, is a suspect. “I cannot let Mr. Maurício be judged by this magistrate who condemns him before the verdict,” Silva Neto told Sheet.

Since taking over the defense of the businessman in April, after the previous lawyer resigned four days from the start of the jury trial, the current representatives of Sampaio have added to the process several appeals of suspicion of the judge. They allege that Machado da Costa has harbored enmities with the defendant since the 1990s.

In a statement, the Public Ministry stated that it considered Sampaio’s defense strategy to be injurious and said that “forged evidence has been attached to the process”.

The magistrate refused all requests. Regarding the latter, based on 2012 statements made by Machado da Costa to a TV program, the judge replied in a sentence that “there was no reference to the process”. He noted that the defense material underwent “a gross and grotesque editing”.

Still on the grounds of enmity, Silva Neto filed a complaint against Machado da Costa with the National Council of Justice. Forwarded to the Corregedoria-Geral da Justiça de Goiás, the request was considered unfounded. Sampaio’s defense declares that he will appeal.

In an interview with Sheet, Valério Luiz Filho, who became an assistant to the prosecution in the criminal action of his father’s murder, makes an appeal for justice to proceed. “That’s ten years of work I could have spent with my family.”

Also journalist Mané de Oliveira died in 2021 without seeing an outcome for the investigation into his son’s death.

The police investigation into the murder was opened in 2012. Sampaio was temporarily detained by the Civil Police in February 2013 and released on habeas corpus about a month later. In March of the same year, with the criminal action in progress, Machado da Costa decreed the preventive detention of the top hat, released by a new habeas corpus in the following May.

The Justice found that there was evidence to install a jury court to try the accused in 2014, which was followed by appeals by the defendants in the higher courts. The popular jury was confirmed in 2018 by the Federal Supreme Court.

With appeals exhausted, one of the defendants filed a petition in 2018 alleging insanity, which guaranteed another year of waiting.

In March of this year, seven organizations linked to the defense of freedom of expression and of the press released a joint note to demand justice.

Even in the midst of the accusations, Sampaio was twice acclaimed president of Dragão between 2015 and 2018. Afterwards, he chaired the board of directors of the team, of which he continues to be a part. In an interview with Mais Goiás, he said that he is received as a “pop star” at Atlético.

Sought, the club’s advice stated that it does not comment on matters that run in court.