José Manuel Maza

José Manuel Maza Martín (23 October 1951 – 18 November 2017) was a Spanish prosecutor, judge, criminologist and writer. He served as the 89th Attorney General of Spain from November 2016 until his death on 18 November 2017.

Legal career

He studied Law and History in the Complutense University of Madrid. He also got a diploma in Criminology in the same university. He entered the Judicial career in 1975 and in the Prosecutor career in 1978, where he was the first of his promotion. He worked for a few years as a lawyer and as a counsel of the National Railways Network. For a short time, Maza worked as a lawyer, taking on cases for state-owned company Renfe.

During the 1990s, Maza served as the spokesman for the Unión Judicial Independiente (UJI), a conservative association of judges. During this time, Maza became a district judge in Madrid after having worked in the courts of Alcorcón, Valencia and Cangas de Morrazo. He later was appointed chair of the first chamber of the Madrid Provincial Court and, in 2002, he was appointed Magistrate of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court replacing Adolfo Prego, who was appointed member of the CGPJ.

In addition to his daily work as a magistrate, he also authored several books, including the Handbook of Legal and Forensic Psychiatry, Circumstances that exclude or modify Criminal Responsibility and Criminal Penalty Practices, and other publications related to Criminal Law and the relationship between law and medicine.

During his time at the Supreme Court, he worked on many high-profile cases. Maza defended the disqualification of judge Baltasar Garzón, and, in 2007, made it possible to file a case against the former president of the Santander Group, Emilio Botín.