NICARAGUA – Judge Roberto Rodríguez Baltodano has one of the hardest jobs in the country these days.

It's a job that he is taking very seriously, but one he knows will ultimately earn him heaps of scorn, regardless of how well he performs his duty.

Rodríguez, a veteran magistrate of the Granada Appeals Court, is heading the three-judge panel presiding over the high-profile appeal of U.S. citizen Eric Volz, who last February was found guilty of murdering his Nicaraguan ex-girlfriend and sentenced to 30 years in jail (NT, Feb. 23).

Volz, a 26-year-old realtor and magazine publisher, was found guilty of the Nov. 21, 2006 murder of Doris Ivania Jiménez, who was found raped and strangled to death inside her clothing boutique in the popular southern Pacific tourist town of San Juan del Sur. Volz maintains his innocence and has phone records he insists prove he was in Managua at the time of the murder. That evidence, however, was thrown out by a judge at the murder trial.

Volz was found guilty along with Julio Martín Chamorro – one of three Nicaraguan suspects arrested for the crime, but the only of the three who was eventually charged and convicted for murder. Another Nicaraguan suspect, who later became a key witness who fingered Volz for the crime, was evidently let off the hook on some sort of irregular plea bargain arrangement, according to those who have reviewed the case.

Waiting on an Appeal: U.S. citizen and inmate Eric Volz, appealing his 30-year sentence for murdering his ex-girlfriend, could be let free later this month if the judge rules in his favor.

Tim Rogers | Nica Times

The murder case has become a major national and international story, drawing some of the biggest U.S. media to cover the story, with various degrees of sensationalism.

The news reports have people both here and abroad sharply divided, mostly along ionality, on whether Volz is guilty or innocent. The country's Chief Prosecutor, Julio Centeno, has backed the guilty verdict and said he is confident that the Granada Appeals Court will uphold the sentence.

Now, after months of speculation and public debate on the case – the details of which are all over the Internet – everyone is anxiously awaiting the outcome of the appeals process.

“Regardless of our decision, there will be a revolt,” Rodríguez told The Nica Times this week. “If we revoke the sentence we will be called corrupt by the press and people here in Nicaragua, and if we uphold the sentence we will be accused in the international press of having a corrupt justice system.”

The judge added, “of course we feel the pressure and we don't know where this will lead, but that won't influence our decision.”

Despite the inherent pressure, judge Rodríguez insists he has not received any direct pressure from anyone to rule one way or another.

“No one has tried to contact me or pressure me,” he said. “Not my superiors or any politicians.”

Media Circus

Rodríguez said he thinks all the publicity generated by case is a result of the fact that a U.S. citizen was one of the accused, rather than the heinous nature of the crime itself.

The judge said he has handled other murder cases where the details of the crime were equally disturbing, but those crimes, which involved only Nicaraguans, received little or no press coverage.

The judge said the numerous news reports on Volz, both in the national and international press in recent months, has led him to know what the media thinks about the case, but has not in any way prejudiced his ability to judge the case professionally and objectively.

He compared the Volz case to the 1994 high-profile murder trial of former U.S. football star O.J. Simpson – a case that virtually the whole world, including judge Lance Ito, who presided over the Simpson case, knew about from the media before it went to trial.

Yet despite the possible consequences to his professional reputation – or even more serious potential consequences to his personal security – Rodríguez said he has dutifully accepted the responsibility of ruling on this complicated case and takes that role very seriously.

75% Done

The judge said he has been reviewing the case carefully, highlighting parts in yellow marker that he finds confusing or contradictory. Many of the pages have already been marked with his telltale yellow highlighter.

Rodríguez has also written notes and legal references in the margins of the case file and has written several pages of questions and comments on the proceedings.

As of late May, the judge said he was 75% done reviewing the case and thinks he will finish with it completely by the first week in June.

At that point he will prepare his notes to be presented to the other two appellate judges. If there is no serious dissention among the other judges, the Appeals Court will then call upon the prosecution and defense to come before the appellate court for an oral audience to present final arguments.

The oral audience before the Appeals Court could be of the utmost importance to the Volz defense team, which will be allowed to present again their key witnesses whose testimony was dismissed by the first judge. Those witnesses, the defense team argues, prove that Volz was in Managua at the time of the murder in San Juan del Sur, more than two hours away by car.

After hearing the final arguments, the three judges will then deliberate for five more days before handing down their final verdict, which Rodríguez expects will be ready sometime in June. The judges' verdict can be decided by a 2:1 split vote.

The Appeals Court could rule one of four ways, according to the judge. It could either confirm the sentence, in which case Volz and Chamorro would serve their 30-year prison sentences. It could revoke the sentence, in which case Volz and Chamorro would be let free. It could reform the sentence, in which case one of the two men could be let free, or one or both of the sentences reduced. Or, it could annul the entire case, in which case both men would be let free and another judge would be assigned to retry the murder.

Though Rodríguez stressed that the law prohibits him from opining on the case before officially handing down his verdict, there are parts of the case that admittedly have left him scratching his head.

That situation of doubt could ultimately favor Volz in a judicial system that, according to Article 2 of the Penal Processing Code, establishes that individuals are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

“In dubio pro reo,” Rodríguez said, remembering the phrase in Latin.