By The Star Staff
Hermes Ávila Vázquez has been sentenced to 102 years in prison after pleading guilty to the femicide of Ivette Joan Meléndez Vega, a crime that shocked Puerto Rico earlier this year.
The sentence was announced on Monday by Justice Secretary Domingo Emanuelli Hernández, who emphasized the severity of the penalty as a reflection of the cruelty of the act and the criminal record of the convict.
“With this sentence, he will spend the last days of his life in the prison from which he should never have left,” the Justice chief said.
“Our condolences to the family of Ivette Joan, who today are completing a difficult and painful process,” Emanuelli Hernández added. “We hope that they now have the peace they need to face their grief.”
Jessika Correa González, who heads the Prosecutor’s Office, reaffirmed the office’s commitment to justice and the eradication of gender violence.
“Today, Hermes Ávila Vázquez pleaded guilty to the femicide of Ivette Meléndez Vega,” Correa González said. “He was sentenced to 102 years in prison, reiterating that the Prosecutor’s Office had compelling evidence to prevail in his case.”
Ávila Vázquez, who was convicted of murder in 2005, was released from prison under an early release program that allows inmates to leave jail if they suffer certain terminal conditions. However, after he was released, he killed Meléndez Vega in Manatí, according to his own confession. Ávila Vázquez had been diagnosed as paraplegic even though, as it turned out, he could walk. Since then, the Corrections and Rehabilitation Department has been the target of criticism for allowing his release.
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