MIAMI (WSVN) - Family and friends of former Hialeah Police Officer Rafael Otano, who was found guilty of kidnapping a homeless man, are furious. They are now demanding that the verdict be overturned.
On Monday, several family members and friends were in front of the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building in Miami to show support for the convicted former officer.
7News cameras captured the protestors chanting and holding signs that read “Free Otano.”
According to the protestors, they do not believe there was sufficient evidence to warrant the guilty verdict.
Otano was accused of kidnapping and beating Jose Ortega Gutierrez, along with former Officer Lorenzo Orfila, on Dec. 17, 2022.
During his court appearance last week, the jury reached a split decision. While Otano was found guilty of kidnapping Gutierrez, he was found not guilty of battery.
“We just want to just make a little noise because it has been an injustice what has been done to my brother,” said Gaby Otano, Otano’s sister. “My brother was a police officer in the department in Hialeah, and he was just convicted of kidnapping, and there’s not sufficient evidence. That’s why we’re trying to basically get him out because there isn’t sufficient evidence that he kidnapped that homeless guy. It’s just not correct.”
Otano’s attorneys plan to file two motions soon.
The first is for a renewed motion for judgment of acquittal.
In a statement, they wrote that they are “…asking the judge to find Otano not guilty of the kidnapping charge and send him home. This is on the grounds that Otano never had custody of the alleged victim and because the jury already found him not guilty of hitting him or helping anyone else hit him, which was the only purpose of the kidnapping.”
Their second motion is for a new trial. The statement reads as follows, “…..On the grounds that the state deprived him of a fair trial by falsely telling the jury that Otano could be found guilty of just being present or violating minor policies which were not relevant and other grounds.”
“We will fight until Rafael is home and we will prevail,” the statement continued.
Otano’s mother was one of the protesters who gathered Monday afternoon.
Speaking in Spanish, she said she wants justice for her son.
Orfila and an investigator, Ali Amin Saleh, who is accused of a crime to bribe the victim to not file charges, have not yet gone to trial.
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