Spanish Court Orders New Trial In Jacobo Piñeiro Rial Gay Murder Case

Jacobo Piñeiro Rial was arrested for the brutal slaying of a gay couple in Spain. A jury found Piñeiro not guilty, buying his story that the murders were a result of “gay panic” the straight Piñeiro felt after one or both of the men sexually assaulted him. Outrage prompted by Piñeiro’s acquittal prompted the Superior Justice Tribunal of Galicia to revisit the case and determine whether the original trial had been just.

Piñeiro had been drinking at a gay bar in Vigo for several hours, eventually leaving with bartender Isaac Al Daní Pérez Triviño. The two ended up at Triviño’s apartment, where they spent the afternoon locked in a room doing drugs, even after Triviño’s boyfriend, Julio Anderson Luciano, arrived at the apartment with a few friends. Piñeiro remained at the apartment even after Luciano’s friends had left. For reasons that are still not clear, Piñeiro then tortured and stabbed the two men between the hours of 4 and 6 am the morning of January 13th. After eventually killing the couple, Piñeiro set their apartment on fire. You know: Just the sort of typical, methodical, arduous murder and arson committed by people in a panic. At the time, Chief Judge Juan Carlos Horro labeled the verdict “scandalous.”

A judge did manage to sentence Piñeiro for 20 years in prison for having set the apartment on fire  and putting the lives of other building residents in danger. His legal team attempted to appeal this. 

As Blabbeando reports, racism was likely another element in this murder, in addition to homophobia. After his arrest, Piñeiro told police that he had been “particularly disgusted” that he had been propositioned by a black man, as Julio, the bartender’s boyfriend, was a Brazilian-born black man. Isaac’s mother has publicly opined that the jury may have sympathized with Piñeiro’s racist views.

In any case,  the Superior Justice Tribunal of Galicia is taking a look at what they are calling an “absurd, illogical” ruling and have rejected petitions to reduce Piñeiro’s 20 year sentence.