Judges at the Court of Appeal in Bucharest concluded on Monday the debate in the case at the appeal stage, in which Mario Iorgulescu, son of Gino Iorgulescu, president of the Professional Football League, was sentenced at first instance to 15 years and eight years. months of imprisonment for a traffic accident caused in September 2019, when a drunk and under the influence of drugs hit a 24-year-old man to death with his car. We will remind, Mario Iorgulescu was hospitalized in a private clinic in Italy, his parents managed to take him out of the country by private plane immediately after the accident.

The judges announced that the final verdict in this case will be delivered on October 11.

During the last court session, the lawyers of the Yorgulescu family asked to change the legal qualification for which Mario Yorgulescu is being tried, from murder to manslaughter, a request rejected by the magistrates, writes Agerpres.

Mario Iorgulescu was hospitalized in a private clinic in Italy, his parents managed to fly him out of the country on a private plane immediately after the accident. He was not heard by prosecutors or judges, neither during the criminal prosecution nor during the trial.

Driving an Aston Martin in a jealous rage, with a blood alcohol content of 1.96 g/l and under the influence of cocaine.

On the evening of September 8, 2019, Mario Iorgulescu attended a party organized by a friend’s family in Gulia village, Terteşeşti commune, where he consumed alcohol. One day he would find out that his ex-girlfriend, with whom he had just broken up, was at a club in Herăstrău Park. Witnesses say that he continuously argued on the phone with his ex-girlfriend, was nervous and shouted, but he promised the presenter that he would not get behind the wheel in such a state.

At the end of the party, around 2:50 a.m., in a fit of jealousy and anger, with a blood alcohol level of 1.96 g/l and high on cocaine, he got into his car, an Aston Martin DBS model, and, according to prosecutors, left for the capital.

He entered Bucharest via Citila, traveling at a speed between 140 km/h and 164 km/h (moments captured by video cameras on the route), and at the intersection between Citilei Road and Teodora Neagoe Street, he ran into a red traffic light with a speed of 145 km/h, after which he accelerated to 162 km/h, passing next to another vehicle that was moving at a low speed on lane I. After that, he drove into the square, pressing the maximum acceleration pedal, drove into the oncoming, where at a speed of 143 km/h he collided head-on with a car driven by a 24-year-old man, who died on the spot.

The witness of the accident told the court the terrible scenes from the collision site, the driver of the other car was found lying on the ground.

A few days after the accident, Mario Iorgulescu was transported by his family to Italy on a private plane and hospitalized in a clinic.

He was tried in absentia, and on February 10, 2023, the Bucharest Court sentenced him to 15 years and eight months in prison for murder and driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs (cocaine).

Mario Iorgulescu was insightful at the time of the accident

In her sentencing decision, Judge Manuela Orzaza of the Bucharest court noted that Mario Iorgulescu was lucid at the time of the accident, did not suffer, and does not currently suffer, from a mental illness that would prevent his extradition from Italy to stand trial. submitted by the Romanian authorities, and if he has a disease, he can be treated without problems in the penitentiary system of our country.

In 59 pages, the sentencing magistrate explains the reasons why he imposed such a sentence on Mario Iorgulescu, who left for Italy immediately after the accident in September 2019.

The magistrate says that the evidence in the files shows that Mario Iorgulescu was alert at the time of the accident.

Also, Yorgulescu drove a powerful vehicle, which at any moment can turn into a crime tool, he demonstrated indifference to the consequences of his actions, “these aspects testify to the increased danger of the defendant, lack of braking and serious disregard for traffic rules.” .

During the trial, lawyers and Iorgulescu’s family asked for the trial to be suspended, arguing that the young man has illnesses that prevent him from participating in court debates, is hospitalized for treatment at a private clinic in Italy and cannot be transferred from abroad .

The lawyers also argued that Mario Iorgulescu was not articulate at the time of the accident, as he had been diagnosed with mental disorders since childhood, and asked for a restraining order rather than prison.

He doesn’t suffer from mental illness as he claims / The high-powered car he was driving could have turned into a murder weapon at any time

However, these statements were dismissed by the judge Manuela Orcace, who wonders how Mario Iorgulescu got a driver’s license, since he suffered from mental illness since childhood.

The magistrate shows in his motivation that he does not currently suffer from mental disorders that would prevent him from being transferred from Italy to participate in the trial filed by the Romanian authorities, and if he has a disease, he can be treated without problems in the penitentiary system in our country .

• “Therefore, if any physician, during the entire period during which the defendant held a driver’s license, became aware of the existence of serious mental illness of such a nature as to render the defendant psychologically unfit to drive vehicles on public roads, he was required by law to do (…)
• Such medical documents, from which serious mental disorders could arise, were not submitted to the case file, the absence of these documents before the accident is confirmed by the fact that he had a valid driver’s license on the day of the accident (. ..)
• It is inconceivable that a person’s parents would allow this person with a serious mental disorder to have access to such a powerful car that can be turned into a murder weapon at any moment, without risking not only their own child’s life, but the lives of other people as well. and at the same time be exposed to the risk of being accused of moral complicity in committing a crime against life,” says the judge.

Medical records that would indicate a lack of insight do not come from specialists

Regarding the medical documents submitted to the case by the Yorgulescu family, the judge shows that they represent the medical opinions of some specialists – a neurosurgeon and a psychologist – but which come from people who do not have the necessary qualifications to establish a lack of insight, defined as the ability to distinguish, judge and value things at their fair value.

Thus, in the conclusion drawn up by a neurosurgeon, it is stated that “after a road accident in 2019, as a result of a severe brain injury, neuropsychological phenomena worsened”, which, however, contradicts the medical certificate. documents submitted to the UPU immediately after the road accident, where the diagnosis is indicated: “road accident. Small craniocerebral polytrauma (TBI)”.

The judge also says that the lawyers did not request a forensic psychiatric examination to establish whether Mario Iorgulescu had a sane mind at the time of the actions. Defense lawyers requested such an examination only to check whether he is mentally fit to stand trial.

The magistrate notes that in cases of murder, a psychiatric examination is not mandatory and is required only in cases where a specific way of committing the act (for example, due to cruelty, in relation to two or more persons, etc.) or from other aspects there are doubts about the sanity of the person under the time of the crime, which is not here.

According to the judge, Mario Iorgulescu was sane at the time of the accident.

In this sense, a friend characterizes Mario Iorgulescu as a person with prudence – he went to a party before the accident with a bouquet of flowers for the birthday boy, immediately after the accident he would ask the people who came to his aid if anyone had died and told the woman his father’s phone number from memory ‘yati

“Standing cross-legged, lightly tanned, he remains silent when asked about the aspects the court found necessary.”

The attitude of Mario Iorgulescu in front of the representative of the Court of Appeal of Milan, who visits him in the clinic where he is hospitalized, does not help him either.

• “In this aspect, it can be seen in the CD provided by the Italian judicial authorities at the request of the court, how the defendant, with his legs crossed, slightly tanned, remains silent when asked about certain aspects that the court deems necessary, including his first and last name and other data necessary for identification (aspects about which he does not have the right to remain silent according to the law, having the right to remain silent only in relation to the act of which he is accused).
• In this way, the defendant adopts a defense strategy of silence and references to mental disorders that prevent him from participating in the trial, although, simply by adopting this strategy, the defendant proves that he understands what is happening,” the motivation also states.

“It cannot be claimed that the memory of Mario Yorgulescu has suffered”

The lawyers referred to the fact that Mario Iorgulescu does not have a phone in the clinic where he is an inpatient, but he would have hit other people in the clinic from whom he takes the phone, suggesting that this was the context in which he ended the conversation with witnesses in the case and journalists from Romania.

The court shows that no evidence was provided from the said clinic that would lead to such serious actions (beating, theft) and even in the hypothesis that Mario Iorgulescu stole phones from other people, this aspect involves recalling phone numbers from memory witnesses and journalists with whom the son of the head of the FNM communicated, or by mentioning the account in social networks and entering the appropriate passwords. Thus, it cannot be claimed that Mario Yorgulescu’s memory has suffered.

The court also notes that the family refused to allow Mario Iorgulescu to undergo a medical examination at the INML, arguing that he would be arrested as soon as he arrived in Romania.