Mexican judge to rule in Yoncalla man's death

CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico — A judge in Mexico is expected to decide this week whether five Mexican police officers are guilty of homicide and other charges stemming from the death of a Yoncalla man in a San Jose del Cabo jail last month.

The municipal officers were charged last Wednesday with homicide and abuse of power in the death of 38-year-old Sam Botner, said Regional Deputy Attorney General Omar Barajas. A sixth officer, the commander of the jail, was released after investigators determined he was not involved.

Botner was arrested Aug. 27 while vacationing in the resort town at the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas are about 20 miles apart but fall under the same “municipio,” or municipal jurisdiction.

Prosecutors say a surveillance video shows officers beating Botner, who was vacationing there with his wife, Kym, after returning from a commercial fishing trip in Alaska.

An autopsy found traces of marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine in Sam Botner’s system. His wife said he resisted arrest but prosecutors said police still have a duty to protect people in custody.

Police spokesman Jorge Castaneda said the five officers could face 10 years or more in jail.

Under remnants of the old Napoleonic Code there is no presumption of innocence in Mexico or many other Latin American countries, and defendants must prove their innocence.

Castaneda said a judge has 72 hours to decide the fate of the officers charged, although the process can take longer.

Lawyers will submit written briefs, and a judge likely will decide Monday or Tuesday.

Jury trials are relatively rare in Mexico.

Botner’s father, Nick Botner of Yoncalla, told The News-Review Friday that he is skeptical that the officers will be punished.

“I have a hunch that they’re not going to do anything anyway,” he said. “… The judge can decide, and of course, if the judge is paid off, he can decide any way he wants.”

Botner said he hopes the officers are held accountable for the sake of other tourists traveling in the area.

Castaneda said an autopsy concluded that Botner died of asphyxiation but prosecutors say he was beaten in jail.

Kym Botner told KMTR-TV of Eugene that police were called after her husband got into an argument with a man at a resort. She said she was told the morning after her husband’s arrest that he had died.

“I think the officers need to go to prison but I forgive them as people,” Sam Botner’s brother, Paul, told The Oregonian. “I have no hatred for them.”