The impeachment jury concerning the judges who issued the first acquittal in the case of the femicide of Lucía Pérez, which occurred in 2016, concluded this Tuesday. The resolution will be announced next week. Pablo Viñas and Facundo Gómez Urso are the judges accused of alleged misconduct for acquitting the defendants Matías Farías and Juan Pablo Offidani of the charges of femicide and sexual abuse against the 16-year-old teenager. Both have been suspended since 2021.
The Attorney General of San Martín, Marcelo Lapargo, requested the dismissal of the accused judges, while the defense for Viñas and Urso has sought their acquittal. After two days of hearings, the resolution will be announced next week by the Supreme Court of Justice, presided over by Daniel Soria, along with provincial senators Ariel Martínez Bordaisco, Gustavo Soos, and Gabriela Demaría, and deputies Maite Alvado and Susana González. During the hearings, Lucía Pérez's parents testified against the judges, mentioning "mistreatment" during the first trial.
Initially, there were to be three judges accused in the jury, but Aldo Carnevale retired before the trial began. Regarding the crime of Pérez, which occurred in October 2016 in Mar del Plata, the process reached oral trial in 2018. In November of that same year, the Criminal Tribunal No. 1 of Mar del Plata sentenced Farías and Offidani for possession of narcotics. However, they were acquitted of the crime of sexual abuse and femicide was not considered in the original sentence.
In 2020, following the intervention of the Fourth Chamber of the Buenos Aires Court of Cassation, a new trial was ordered. Finally, in 2023, the Oral Criminal Court (TOC) 2 of Mar del Plata sentenced Matías Farías to life imprisonment as the material author of Lucía Pérez's femicide and Juan Pablo Offidani to eight years in prison as a secondary participant.
