Mexico trial over surfers found slain on Baja beach wraps

ENSENADA, Mexico (CN) — The trial over three foreign surfers found murdered on a idyllic Baja California beach concluded Wednesday without the anticipated cross-examination of a pair of star witnesses.The defense for Jesús Gerardo, Irineo Francisco and Ángel Jesús declined to cross-examine Jesús Gerado’s stepson and his former girlfriend, leaving a dozen reporters, mostly arriving from Australia, murmuring in confusion.The killings of Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend, Jack Carter Rhoad, has drawn international attention to the typically quiet tourist enclave known as a surfing destination. The defendants are charged with aggravated homicide, aggravated robbery, violent robbery and grand theft auto.The crimes carry a potential sentence of 168 years for Irineo Francisco and Ángel Jesús — and 210 years for Jesús Gerardo, the accused ringleader, due to the crime of forced disappearance tacked onto his charges.Mexican judges give their verdicts without a jury and do not issue verdicts immediately following the end of witness testimony. Judge Raúl Hernández Arellano stated on Wednesday that closing arguments will be next Thursday.Debra Robinson, mother of Jake and Callum, stood up and urged Hernández Arellano to consider travel plans when issuing the final verdict.Hernández Arellano said he will issue the verdict next Friday, hours before the Robinson parents return to Australia." It’s been an incredibly difficult and emotional few weeks here in Ensenada and we are deeply grateful for all the support and kindness we have received since we have been here. To everyone back home in Australia and around the world, we feel your love and your arms around us, and it is giving us strength during some difficult days," Debra Robinson said in a statement to the media outside the courtroom.Unequal judicial systemOn May 2, 2024, rescue workers unearthed the bodies of the three surfers from a dry makeshift well at Punta San José — along with a fourth body.Information given to Courthouse News by the prosecution team said that body has been identified as the watchman of the property of the well where the bodies were dumped. The body was in a state of decomposition that showed it had been in the well for two weeks to a month.That murder is under investigation, though Gerardo, Irineo Francisco and Ángel Jesús are not being charged in it.“He is just a random Mexican,” said Paulina Creuheras, lawyer and director of political risk consultation firm, Integralia. “There’s no way this trial would have been so speedy if it was just for one random Mexican.”According to Human rights Watch, only one out of every ten homicides in Mexico get solved. A 2026 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights report found there are 128,000 missing people in Mexico.Emphasizing that it didn’t detract from the tragedy of the surfers’ case, Creuheras said the fact is that the Mexican judicial system tends to move faster with outside international media pressure — which can also affect the outcome of the case.Without a jury, as is standard in Mexico, the verdict comes down to Hernández Arellano. The lack of juries is perhaps the most notable difference Mexican and U.S. trials.“In theory it’s more objective with a jury because there are several minds, someone who is looking at it from the outside, who doesn’t have bias,” she said.But she also mentioned judges may have more scientific knowledge and more logical experience because there are strict rules for them to substantiate and justify each ruling they make.However, said Creuheras, these standards have deteriorated since last year, when Mexico embarked on a controversial experiment of electing judges through popular vote.“The judges pass through very low standards. It’s more about politics, and those who were closest to the government ended up winning. So, I would say that this system — which was designed to prioritize experience and knowledge, isn’t necessarily like that in practice anymore,” she said. “It depends a lot on which court and which judge resolves the case.”Hernández Arellano was voted in as judge in June 2025 in the remote municipality of San Quintin, Baja California.Creuheras also said the evidentiary threshold is much more stringent in the United States.“The way evidence is obtained, the context, the testimonies, hearsay — all these things don’t apply here. The judges are more flexible in assessing the context of whether it’s relevant to consider a piece of evidence or not. And almost always, by the time you get to trial, that’s all the evidence you have,” she said.Reasonable doubt — the oft-quoted phrase in movies and media — also differs in Mexico and the U.S.“This thing that’s very famous in the United States, beyond reasonable doubt; in theory, it should be like that here too, but in practice, many times someone is considered guilty until proven innocent. Because of the political and media agenda and the pressure — they look for what we call a scapegoat. You put the blame on someone to have a guilty party, even if they’re not actually guilty, but that makes it seem like the page is turned,” she said.Plea bargains also differ. In November, Jesús Gerardo was offered a deal of 52 years while Irineo Francisco and Ángel Jesús were offered 47 years. They all declined.“In the United States, during the trial — at almost any point — the prosecution can negotiate and say, ‘Okay, you plead guilty to these charges, and then you can reduce your sentence.’ In Mexico, it’s not at any point; it has to be very early on, and they have to admit their guilt almost from minute one, and that’s done through an abbreviated procedure. Now, if you go to the stage the three are at today, this no longer applies,” she said.“At their stage, there’s no turning back,” she added.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads