SANTIAGO — A Santiago court convicted Pedro Espinoza, José Zara, and Raúl Iturriaga for the murder of Ronni Karpen Moffitt. Judge Paola Plaza sentenced all three men to 15 years in prison for the 1976 car bombing in Washington, D.C.

Orlando Letelier also died in the explosion, which occurred on September 21, 1976, on Massachusetts Avenue Northwest while Letelier and Moffitt were driving to work. In 1978, Michael Townley confessed to his role in the murders. High-ranking Chilean military officials faced sentencing in connection with the case during the 1990s.

Espinoza, Zara, and Iturriaga were agents of the Dirección Nacional de Inteligencia (DINA). The DINA was disbanded by Pinochet's junta following the killings, and the Central Nacional de Informaciones (CNI) replaced it a few months later. Manuel Contreras led the DINA agents involved in the attack's planning. A Santiago appeals court ruled in 2012 that the case concerning Moffitt's death had to be reopened because the perpetrators were Chilean nationals.

José Zara was released from prison in August 2022 after completing a 15-year sentence but was arrested again following the new conviction. Raúl Iturriaga is serving more than 500 years in prison for other human rights crimes. Pedro Espinoza and Raúl Iturriaga were held at a facility outside Santiago before the new sentencing. Judge Paola Plaza is a special minister for human rights in Chile.

Letelier, 44, arrived in the U.S. in January 1975 following imprisonment in Chile. Augusto Pinochet revoked his Chilean citizenship on September 10, 1976. That same day, Letelier spoke at an anti-Pinochet rally at Madison Square Garden in New York. Moffitt was 25 years old at the time of her death. The U.S. Congress ordered an investigation into the killings and imposed an arms embargo on Chile.

Former Chilean ambassador Juan Gabriel Valdés posted on social media, saying, "Justice took 49 years and 97 days to arrive." Rebecca Karpen, Moffitt's niece, stated, "These sentences are not just a victory for our family, but are a reminder that the countless lives ruined by the Pinochet regime are still being fought for, that the pain of the Chilean people will not be forgotten."