Overview

• The judgment nullifies the Supreme Court’s 2022 retrial order and renders the 2019 jury verdict final.
• The First Chamber ruled 4–2 with Justice María Luisa Segoviano as rapporteur.
• The court held that the destroyed first draft of the jury act did not create constitutionally relevant defenselessness because the private accuser did not seek it at the proper time.
• López had been found not guilty by a 6–3 jury vote, a result already affirmed on appeal by the Valencian High Court.
• The Prosecutor supported the view that a retrial requires material harm not attributable to the accuser’s own passivity.