In Netflix’s latest mini-series, The Asunta Case, we saw that once the law enforcement authorities reached Rosario and Alfonso’s house and the media came to know about the news, there was a perception created, which, though wasn’t backed by any solid evidence, it did end up having a huge impact on the result of the case. Luis Malvar was the pre-trial examiner/judge, and he knew Rosario from before. We learned about it when Luis Malvar first met Rosario and passed a sarcastic comment where he questioned the credibility of Rosario as a lawyer. Rosario and Alfonso said that they didn’t want a lawyer, as the former had studied law, but when Malvar came, he told his officers to provide the couple with an advocate if they resisted doing so on their own. The character of Luis Malvar could be said to be inspired by the real-life judge, Jose Antonio Vazquez Tain, who conducted the investigation and then, based on his findings, the presiding judge initiated the trial.
Tain was born in 1968 in Orense, and he studied law at the University of Santiago. Vazquez Tain was the son of Manuel Vazquez Outeirino, a well-respected figure who also served as the two-time mayor of A Merca. It’s unclear if Tain’s father suffered from similar mental issues as shown in the film or if it was a creative liberty taken by the makers. Just like what was shown in the series, Tain had five siblings, and their father made sure that each one of them got the best education. Tain, in reality, too, was very sure from the onset that the couple had committed the murder of their child. There were a lot of reasons that made him come to that judgment, though at times, the way it had been portrayed in the series, it felt like he had some prejudices and biases that led him to that conclusion. I cannot deny that the way Malvar came and made a remark at the beginning of The Asunta Case, it felt as if he didn’t like Rosario, maybe because he felt that she didn’t have to work hard like he had to since she got everything served to her on the platter. We don’t know if this was the case in real life or if this angle was solely fictional and created to add a dramatic flair to the scheme of things.
Malvar was just not ready to hear that the couple had nothing to do with the murder of their daughter. There were times when the members of his team presented an alternative narrative, but he was adamant about proving that all of it was untrue and only the parents were at fault. The first time Malvar felt that Rosario was lying was when he found shreds of orange-colored wire in her dustbin which was used to strangle Asunta. Moreover, during her testimony, Malvar’s suspicions were strengthened even more when CCTV footage was found, which nullified her claims. It was Malvar’s idea to place a sound recorder in Rosario’s and Alfonso’s cells since he wanted to know everything they talked about. Malvar knew that the sound recording wouldn’t be admissible evidence in a court of law, but he still went ahead with it because, somewhere, he knew that it would be enough to create a public perception against the couple. Malvar did leak the information about the case to the press, which made us think that he had already decided who was the guilty party, and he just wanted to make sure that they were put behind bars.
Malvar and his team found traces of semen on Asunta’s shirt, and he was adamant, and one could say even desperate, to prove that it belonged to Alfonso. Malvar was very disappointed when he got to know that it was not so and that it belonged to another man who had a criminal history. Malvar was too stressed out at that time since he knew that his entire case would be ruined if the defense was able to create doubt in the mind of the jury. But it didn’t happen, and the man in question was able to prove his alibi. Malvar was ecstatic, and the victory felt personal to him. As Malvar was the examining judge, he couldn’t be the presiding judge of the trial. Had he been the presiding judge instead of Pedros, he would have definitely grilled the defense counsel in a far worse manner and made sure that the jury made up their mind right there and then. We are shown in The Asunta Case that during the trial, Malvar’s father passed away due to prolonged illness, but in reality, Manuel Vazquez Outeirino passed away on August 14, 2023.
As of now, the 56-year-old lawyer has taken up different hobbies, and he keeps himself busy. Under his banner, Amarola Productions, he constantly produces many documentaries, and through his Instagram account, he keeps updating the viewers about any sort of development.
