Judge Carlos Salgado Schwarz, former president of the Puerto Rico Association of the Judiciary, questioned holding the court system responsible for the double killing attributed to William Rivera Sánchez in a dispute over an economic debt. In a radio interview, Salgado Schwarz noted Rivera Sánchez had already recovered 88% of what he claimed in a first lawsuit through a payment agreement.
A second lawsuit, filed on June 25, was still at an early stage, he said: service of process on all the defendants had not even been completed, so the case had not had a chance to develop. He also questioned claims that one of those involved had filed for bankruptcy, saying there were no documents in the case file supporting that argument.
A business that ends badly or an unpaid debt, he added, do not by themselves show that any party committed a crime. His comments addressed the killings of Félix Plaud de Choudens and another person, attributed to Rivera Sánchez, and arguments that he acted because the justice system had failed him. Salgado Schwarz maintained that economic disputes belong in the courts.