the articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts drawn up by the International Law Commission.224 124. The Court notes that public defenders conducted Manuela’s defense during the criminal proceedings, which concluded with the delivery of a guilty verdict. Even though public defense corresponds to a State function or public service, in all cases public defenders should have the necessary autonomy to exercise their advisory functions in accordance with their best professional criteria and based on the defendant’s interests. Therefore, the Court finds that the State cannot be considered responsible for all the failings of the public defender, given the independence of the profession and the professional criteria of the defense lawyer. 225 125. Taking this into account, the Court has considered that, in order to analyze whether the State has possibly violated the right to defense, it has to assess whether the act or omission of the public defender constituted inexcusable negligence or an evident shortcoming in the exercise of the defense that had, or could have had, a decisive negative impact on the interests of the defendant. A non-crucial discrepancy with the defense strategy or with the result of a trial will not be sufficient to have an impact on the right to defense.226 126. In the instant case, when making a comprehensive assessment of the actions of the public defender, the Court verified, first, that the public defender asked to be substituted thirty minutes before the preliminary hearing because he had another hearing in a different court.227 The Code of Criminal Procedure of El Salvador in force at the time of the facts established that, during the preliminary hearing, the evidence offered by the parties was produced and they were given time to substantiate their claims. 228 Following the preliminary hearing, the judge could order, inter alia, that the accused be sent to trial, a stay of proceedings, or the application of prosecutorial discretion.229 This Court notes that, during the preliminary hearing of the case, the professional defender only presented arguments concerning a formal error in the statements offered by the prosecution. Contrary to the prosecution, the defense did not mention Manuela’s supposed criminal responsibility in his arguments or, for example, request a stay of proceedings.230 Consequently, during the preliminary hearing, the professional defense of Manuela was inadequate, and this could have been the result of the substitute of Manuela’s defense counsel a mere 30 minutes before the start of that hearing, and the consequent absence of communication between the defender and the defendant in such a short period of time. Case of Ruano Torres et al. v. El Salvador, supra, para. 160. See also, United Nations General Assembly, Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, A/RES/56/83, January 28, 2002. 224 Case of Ruano Torres et al. v. El Salvador, supra, para. 164, and Case of Girón et al. v. Guatemala, supra, para. 100. 225 226 Case of Ruano Torres et al. v. El Salvador, supra, paras. 163, 164 and 166. Cf. Request submitted by Mario Sergio Crespín Cartagena to the Second Trial Court of San Francisco de Gotera on July 7, 2008, asking for the substitution of Manuela’s public defender (evidence file, folio 1939); Communication issued by the Second Trial Court of San Francisco de Gotera accepting the substitution, of July 7, 2008 (evidence file, folio 1940), and Record of the hearing by the Second Trial Court of San Francisco Gotera, Morazán of July 7, 2008 (evidence file, folio 132). 227 Cf. Code of Criminal Procedure of El Salvador, Legislative Decree No. 776 of 1996, article 319. Available at: http://www.oas.org/juridico/spanish/mesicic3_slv_procesal.pdf 228 Cf. Code of Criminal Procedure of El Salvador, Legislative Decree No. 776 of 1996, article 320. Available at: http://www.oas.org/juridico/spanish/mesicic3_slv_procesal.pdf 229 Record of the preliminary hearing of the Second Trial Court of San Francisco Gotera, Morazán, of July 7, 2008 (evidence file, folios 133 and 134). 230 39