Posted on 05/17/2023 6:54:07 AM PDT by Red Badger
A woman who killed a man in self-defense after he attacked and raped her in 2021 was sentenced to more than six years in prison Tuesday.
A Mexican state court ruled Monday that Roxana Ruiz, 23, was guilty of homicide with an “excessive use of legitimate defense,” after killing a man who attacked and raped her in May 2021. In addition, Ruiz was ordered to pay his family more than $16,000 in reparations, a decision her legal team vowed to appeal, The Associated Press (AP) reported. (RELATED: Man Convicted Of Raping 13-Year-Old Girl Gets Rehab, Not Prison)
“It would be a bad precedent if this sentence were to hold. It’s sending the message to women that, you know what, the law says you can defend yourself, but only to a point,” Ángel Carrera, her defense lawyer, told The AP. “He raped you, but you don’t have the right to do anything.”
After meeting her attacker in May 2021, Ruiz agreed to allow him to sleep on a mattress on the floor after he had walked her home and complained about the late hour. While she slept, the man entered her room, tore off her clothes, raped her and threatened to kill her, her defense lawyers claim, according to The AP. Ruiz fought back, striking her attacker in the nose and eventually killing him.
“I regret what I did, but if I hadn’t done it I would be dead today,” Ruiz told The AP.
Ruiz was arrested after police discovered her dragging her attacker’s body into the street outside of her home. When Ruiz told officers she had been raped, one reportedly responded that she had probably wanted to have sex with the man and then changed her mind, according to The AP. A forensic exam was never ordered for Ruiz, but despite its absence the court conceded she had been raped, but stated “hitting the man in the head” would have been enough to defend herself against his actions, The AP reported.
“When a woman defends herself, the system is particularly efficient in processing and sentencing her without taking into consideration the conditions in which she killed the man,” Angelica Ospina, gender fellow for International Crisis Group in Mexico, told The AP. Ospina added the Ruiz’s sentence will only serve to encourage abusers and discourage women from defending themselves or reporting gender-based violence.
“It’s evident that the state wants to shut us up, wants us to be submissive, wants us closed up inside, wants us dead,” Ruiz told The AP. Ruiz added that she hoped she would be able to watch her 4-year-old son grow up.
Tags : mexico rape self defense
Only 6 years? Liberal DA’s in this country would of gone for life.
Yes, all you blow hard feminists, tell me how oppressed you are in the first world... please.. tell me.
Criminal justice these days means justice for criminals
“Ruiz was arrested after police discovered her dragging her attacker’s body into the street outside of her home.”
Sounds like she may have been trying to practice the “3 S’s” but just got unlucky.
I will let here slide this one time.
Ok men. Let’s say some catholic priest or authority figure poked you in the butt when you were young and innocent. Would you let him get away with it? Carry that burden a lifetime? I’d say what she did was very therapeutic. In the case of child molestation it’s usually kept quiet. No one knows.
If the perp ‘mysteriously’ dies 30 years down the road no one would know either.
Do you believe the state is qualified to apply justice in that situation?
The victims are out there. The public gets stuck with the bill in the form of increased medical costs and lower productivity as behaviors are altered.
Think Viet Nam. Think fragging. Would you allow someone wanting combat medals use you as cannon fodder? 100 cases or so of that per Wikipedia.
“excessive use of legitimate defense,”
I wonder what the heck that means.
She should have been given a medal.
It means they have a “right” to defend themselves, but if they do, they will be arrested. Kinda like we can own guns for self defense, but if we use them for s3lf defense, we will be arrested in some states
Mexican lawyer speak..................
It’s mexico. What a cultuere? What culture?
You want that here? Well, you got it.
What culture do we have for that matter? Not much of it left.
Meets stranger and invites him home. Offers him a sleepover. Says he attacked her. Kills him. No witnesses. Doesn’t call the police (why?). Police ‘discover’ her dragging his body. Color me skeptical.
Perps know they can get away with crimes - the “justice” system is not much of a deterrent. Maybe having to live in fear of retiliation from their victims would be more effective. It’s something I would consider in the victims place. “Died suddenly” provides a good explanation these days.
Doesn’t mean justice for criminals, but rather mollycoddling the precious criminals and screwing over the victims. After all without criminals and rampant crime large numbers of government employees like the FBI would have to have real jobs and actually work for a living.
***A Mexican state court...***
A “Guilty until proven innocent country.”
You aren’t allowed to be skeptical, since any woman’s account of anything must be taken as absolute truth.
/s
This would have been tough for me as a juror.
She could be totally truthful. She could be lying. How am I supposed to know?
Yes, it would be tough to decide....................
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