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CASE LAW LIBRARY — REAL RULINGS

Argentine Criminal Case Law: Annotated Rulings by Topic

This library brings together Argentine criminal court rulings explained in plain language. Each case starts from a concrete legal problem — drugs, theft and firearms, homicide, sexual offences, threats and coercion, immigration, gender violence, sentence enforcement and procedural nullities — and shows how the courts decided: acquittals, discontinuances, nullities, sentence reductions and releases.

Select one or more topics below to filter the rulings relevant to your matter.

Note: Individual case pages and topic hubs are currently available in Spanish only. All links below open Spanish-language content on this site.
Sexual Offences Traffic Accidents Searches & Seizures Threats & Coercion Firearms Cybercrime Digital Sexual Offences Drug Offences Sentence Enforcement Bail & Pretrial Release Gender Violence Homicide Jury Trial Immigration & Deportation Criminal Procedure Private Prosecution / Victims Robbery & Theft Trafficking in Persons VIEW ALL

Sexual Offences

Rulings on crimes against sexual integrity: credibility of testimony, prescription of criminal action and state liability in institutional contexts. The focus is on preventing re-victimisation and ensuring an effective defence against complex accusations in family or law-enforcement settings.
  • Case BJL (in Spanish) — trans woman housed in male ward; analysis of the risk of sexual abuse and state liability.
  • Case Castagnino (in Spanish) — child sexual abuse in a family context; witness evidence and prescription periods examined.
  • Case FRE (in Spanish) — sexual abuse in a military unit; Army institutional liability and psychological harm.
  • Case García (in Spanish) — intrafamily sexual abuse; court weighs the victim's account against expert evidence.
  • Case HEJ (in Spanish) — sexual abuse in a police station against a detained woman; provincial duty of care.
  • Case Ilarraz (in Spanish) — repeated abuse in a religious seminary; imprescriptibility and duty of protection.
  • Case Maltese (in Spanish) — repeated sexual abuse; witness evidence, context and sentencing reviewed.
  • Case Mendez (in Spanish) — child victims and standing of specialist defence to appeal a discontinuance.
  • Case Salva (in Spanish) — aggravated sexual abuse with late complaint; delayed reporting does not invalidate victim testimony.
  • Case SCN (in Spanish) — extreme sexual violence inside a federal prison; duty of custody of the Prison Service.
MORE ON SEXUAL OFFENCES (ES)

Traffic Accidents

Criminal liability in road accidents: the distinction between eventual intent and reckless negligence, the impact of substance consumption and contributory negligence by the victim. Includes accident-reconstruction expert evidence and duty-of-care breaches in reckless driving and illegal street-racing cases.
  • Case Anzorreguy (in Spanish) — criminal liability in a complex multi-vehicle accident.
  • Case Atamanuk (in Spanish) — operational liability of Gendarmería in a road accident during a law-enforcement operation.
  • Case Carrera (in Spanish) — "Pompeya Massacre"; sentence review and analysis of arbitrariness in the conviction.
  • Case Castillo Huanca (in Spanish) — detailed assessment of mechanical expert evidence in a fatal road accident.
  • Case Di Pietro (in Spanish) — fatal accident and drugs: driving-under-drugs charge challenged for lack of certainty.
  • Case Flande (in Spanish) — accident mechanics and the influence of external factors on the outcome.
  • Case Florit (in Spanish) — negligent homicide on a motorway: Cassation confirms acquittal, attributing the result to the victim.
  • Case Godirio (in Spanish) — the boundary between eventual intent and reckless negligence with representation.
  • Case Gullo (in Spanish) — criminal liability in illegal street racing on a public road.
  • Case Marascalchi (in Spanish) — court ruling on contradictory expert accident-reconstruction evidence.
MORE ON TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS (ES)

Searches & Seizures

Constitutional validity of police procedures: warrantless searches, vehicle stop-and-frisk and the "police intuition" doctrine. The aim is to control the legality of law-enforcement action and exclude unlawfully obtained evidence arising from overreach or lack of probable cause.
  • Case Aristimuño (in Spanish) — Cassation quashes acquittals and orders reassessment of WhatsApp/digital evidence, focusing on lawfulness.
  • Case Castro (in Spanish) — one count overturned for lack of proven link between the accused and drugs seized from third parties.
  • Case Colman (in Spanish) — nullity of arrest and improper identification conducted without record or oversight; acquittal and release.
  • Case F.E. & Z.A. (in Spanish) — acquittal on one drug count, nullity on another, due to stereotyped police investigation techniques.
  • Case Foschiatti (in Spanish) — nullity of search record for exceeding the terms of the warrant; preliminary examination quashed.
  • Case Gambetti (in Spanish) — preventive habeas corpus: mass filming and stop-and-frisk on trains without court order blocked.
  • Case Godoy (in Spanish) — acquittal for simple possession despite vehicle search: no proof of control over drugs attributable to the accused.
  • Case Gómez Mercado (in Spanish) — discontinuance for atypicality: attempted introduction of drugs into a prison for personal use.
  • Case Pema (in Spanish) — nullity of arrest and search without warrant or objective cause; immediate release ordered.
  • Case Rodas (in Spanish) — nullity for self-incrimination during a prison search under duress; Baldivieso doctrine applied.
MORE ON SEARCHES & SEIZURES (ES)

Threats & Coercion

Threats and coercion (Criminal Code arts. 149 bis and 149 ter): rulings on probation, lack of typicity in arguments, victim retraction, nullities in plea agreements and liberty criteria in gender-violence contexts. The focus is on attacking the evidence and avoiding automatic criminal responses.
  • Case Félix (in Spanish) — probation for coercive threats in a gender context: the victim's consent and its effect on the outcome.
  • Case Fernández Galeano (in Spanish) — accusatorial system: where the prosecutor does not oppose release, the judge cannot impose remand on their own motion.
  • Case G.P.L. (in Spanish) — threat charge with cultural background: evidential limits and vulnerability context.
  • Case Gray (in Spanish) — prescription: no conviction if the court has not resolved an argued prescription plea.
  • Case Irrazábal Madrid (in Spanish) — discontinuance: an argument in anger does not meet the threshold for threat.
  • Case Narváez Lugo (in Spanish) — retraction at trial: without valid incorporation of prior statements, the conviction for threats falls.
  • Case Ramacciato (in Spanish) — suspended sentence: bail and conditions of conduct even in gender violence cases where the sentence would be conditional.
  • Case Ramos León (in Spanish) — probation for threats and injuries: the victim must be heard and their objection weighed.
  • Case Vallejos Meneses (in Spanish) — acquittal for congruence: vague charge and insufficient evidence prevent a conviction for threats.
MORE ON THREATS & COERCION (ES)

Firearms: Possession & Carrying

Possession and unlicensed carrying of firearms (Criminal Code art. 189 bis): fitness to discharge, immediate availability for use and chain of custody. Includes key acquittals where no weapon was seized, the weapon proved to be a replica, or the prosecution failed to establish the intent to carry in a public place.
  • Case Cáceres (in Spanish) — sentencing: a prior conviction already used to aggravate the charge cannot be taken into account again.
  • Case Casco (in Spanish) — acquittal for carrying: court rejected the "suspicious conduct" invoked by police as the basis for the stop.
  • Case Fuentes (in Spanish) — war-weapon carrying charge dismissed for lack of certainty about immediate availability for use.
  • Case Iuliano (in Spanish) — no carrying charge where the weapon never left the victim's home and no public transfer was proved.
  • Case Romero (in Spanish) — acquittal for carrying and discharging: no weapon seized, no proof of immediate availability.
  • Case Villalba (in Spanish) — acquittal for carrying a war weapon without seizure: only a spent cartridge case was found.
MORE ON FIREARMS (ES)

Cybercrime & Digital Evidence

Digital evidence and computer crimes: banking fraud, device access (UFED forensic extraction) and the validity of social-media evidence. Focus on privacy, digital chain of custody and nullities for compelled self-incrimination — including forced biometric unlocking of mobile phones.
  • Case AJA (in Spanish) — phone access without defence involvement; nullity of data extraction.
  • Case CRA – "Undressher" AI (in Spanish) — AI used to undress images; criminal liability discussed.
  • Case DFRR – Plain View (in Spanish) — scope of the plain-view doctrine in UFED forensic examination of seized phones.
  • Case DLRA (in Spanish) — digital banking fraud; banks' duties regarding fraudulent transfers analysed.
  • Case Mora (in Spanish) — phone unlocked using accused's pattern; self-incrimination and consent examined.
  • Case ODIA (in Spanish) — facial recognition used to identify suspects; reliability standards discussed.
  • Case SMMB (in Spanish) — digital violence and non-consensual image sharing; gravity of social-media harm recognised.
MORE ON CYBERCRIME (ES)

Digital Sexual Offences

Case law on cyber-grooming and child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Analysis of proof of sexual intent in chat logs, data seizure warrants and jurisdictional issues in digital environments.
  • Case Carignano (in Spanish) — TSJ Córdoba: remote sexual abuse and authorship in image production using the victim.
  • Case C.G.C. (in Spanish) — Corrientes: remand based on explicit chat content.
  • Case F., R.A. (in Spanish) — STJ Corrientes: art. 131 does not require the perpetrator to be unknown or anonymous.
  • Case G., A.T. (in Spanish) — CNACC: corruption of minors reframed as grooming + simple sexual abuse.
  • Case Gabellota (in Spanish) — La Pampa: validity of incidental discovery of CSAM during forensic extraction.
  • Case Luna (in Spanish) — TCP PBA: grooming does not require the consummation of another sexual offence.
  • Case Martorelli (in Spanish) — TSJ CABA: CSAM investigation transferred to national jurisdiction due to connexity with statutory rape.
  • Case N.A.R. (in Spanish) — STJ Corrientes: typicity confirmed despite defence denial of "sexual intent".
  • Case R., T.E. (in Spanish) — Río Negro: teacher convicted; intent inferred from use of ephemeral networks.
  • Case V.A. (in Spanish) — CABA: conviction for simple sexual abuse via digital coercion to obtain images.
MORE ON DIGITAL SEXUAL OFFENCES (ES)

Drug Offences

Narcotics Act 23.737 rulings: strategies on possession for personal use, medical cannabis cultivation (REPROCANN) and nullities in flagrante delicto procedures. Includes precedents on transport and supply where harm to the protected legal interest is challenged or a reclassification to a lesser offence is achieved.
  • Case Acosta (in Spanish) — false positive: expert report revealed the "drug" was starch; accused acquitted.
  • Case Aranguez (in Spanish) — cannabis seed possession: atypicality and personal use, no proof of commercial purpose.
  • Case Balducci (in Spanish) — REPROCANN: discontinuance for transporting 290 g of cannabis, applying art. 19 CN.
  • Case Bejarano (in Spanish) — drugs search: father acquitted; cohabiting with a drug trafficker is insufficient for liability.
  • Case Campos Montoya (in Spanish) — medical cannabis cultivation: discontinuance supported by therapeutic use and REPROCANN registration.
  • Case Ibalo (in Spanish) — Cassation quashes plea agreement for drugs, acquits the accused and orders immediate release.
  • Case Jimenez (in Spanish) — insufficient evidence for drug supply: no proof linking the accused to sales.
  • Case Kau Choque (in Spanish) — acquittal for drug transport: prosecution unable to sustain the charge at oral trial.
  • Case Ursic (in Spanish) — Cassation overturns drug transport convictions and acquits, ordering release.
MORE ON DRUG OFFENCES (ES)

Sentence Enforcement

Rulings on the custodial phase of a sentence: requirements for parole, temporary release and home detention. Includes litigation on sentence computation, the unconstitutionality of life imprisonment without review and the rights of persons deprived of liberty vis-à-vis the Prison Service.
  • Case Centurión Bernal (in Spanish) — sentence extinguished for exceeding a reasonable enforcement period; immediate release ordered.
  • Case Escalante (in Spanish) — life sentence imposed on a minor: the Supreme Court enables review applying the "Mendoza" doctrine.
  • Case Guerra (in Spanish) — unconstitutionality of life sentences without access to parole; opens the door to sentence review.
  • Case Llanes (in Spanish) — retroactive application of the more lenient law in sentence enforcement to improve the release regime.
  • Case MCE (in Spanish) — juveniles and art. 56 bis: temporary releases granted despite serious offences, prioritising rehabilitation.
  • Case Mendieta (in Spanish) — parole granted: Cassation overturns the enforcement judge's refusal and orders it to be granted.
  • Case Saquilán (in Spanish) — sentence reduction for inhuman detention conditions; computation that acknowledges the suffering.
MORE ON SENTENCE ENFORCEMENT (ES)

Bail & Pretrial Release

Release during criminal proceedings: bail, cessation of pretrial detention and moderation (such as electronic monitoring). Analysis of the justification of procedural risks and how the defence can challenge disproportionate coercive measures based on community ties and the presumption of innocence.
  • Case Alderete (in Spanish) — bail in a serious charge, emphasising family ties and limits on pretrial detention.
  • Case Almada (in Spanish) — bail in a complex case; court weighs the stage of the investigation and time already spent in custody.
  • Case Altamirano (in Spanish) — review of pretrial detention and charge classification; obligation to justify procedural risk.
  • Case Anriquez (in Spanish) — bail with alternative measures facing a serious charge, highlighting community ties.
  • Case Aquino (in Spanish) — moderation of pretrial detention with package of conduct rules and periodic reporting.
  • Case Ballatore (in Spanish) — bail in a lengthy investigation; proportionality between expected sentence and time already in custody.
  • Case Britez (in Spanish) — bail granted by Cassation: pretrial detention disproportionate and insufficiently reasoned.
  • Case Fernández C. (in Spanish) — flight risk: Cassation requires subsidiarity and concrete analysis of bail options before denying release.
  • Case Godoy (in Spanish) — bail for drug transport, weighing community ties, vulnerability and absence of procedural risk.
  • Case González Baracaldo (in Spanish) — bail for aggravated robbery; automatic pretrial detention based on seriousness of offence rejected.
MORE ON BAIL & RELEASE (ES)

Gender Violence & Vulnerability

Rulings applying a gender perspective and vulnerability analysis: self-defence in a violence context, state of necessity due to poverty and the best interests of the child. Also covers state liability for inaction following prior complaints and protection against institutional violence.
  • Case Aguirre (in Spanish) — prior violence context analysed when determining criminal liability.
  • Case Díaz (in Spanish) — the Supreme Court quashes the conviction and orders retrial with gender and disability perspective.
  • Case K.A.A. (in Spanish) — discontinuance for self-defence in a context of chronic gender violence by an intimate partner.
  • Case Medrano (in Spanish) — acquittal: partner's coercion to smuggle goods into prison; structural gender violence.
  • Case R., Y.S. (in Spanish) — aggravated homicide within the family: acquittal following home birth; natural punishment considered.
  • Case Vega (in Spanish) — sexual abuse and gender violence within an intimate relationship; Cassation reviews the criminal response.
  • Case Zeballos (in Spanish) — acquittal for trafficking and exploitation, applying extreme vulnerability and gender perspective.
MORE ON GENDER VIOLENCE (ES)

Homicide & Serious Injury

Offences against the person: defences of self-defence, excess in self-defence and mitigated or negligent homicide. Includes acquittals on reasonable doubt as to authorship and conciliation agreements in injury cases that achieve a permanent extinction of the criminal action.
  • Case Beltrán (in Spanish) — negligent homicide by medical malpractice: Cassation acquits for lack of certainty as to cause of death.
  • Case Candia (in Spanish) — aggravated intimate-partner homicide: indictment overturned, insufficient grounds found, release ordered.
  • Case García (in Spanish) — conciliation in a homicide between family members; reparation agreement extinguishes the criminal action.
  • Case Joaquín (in Spanish) — partial acquittal in aggravated homicide and new sentencing hearing on a lesser charge.
  • Case Machado Melis (in Spanish) — sentence reduced in preterintentional homicide: sentence cut to 3 years, recidivism quashed.
  • Case Monforte (in Spanish) — acquittal confirmed in negligent homicide and abandonment of a person for insufficient evidence.
  • Case Nocelli (in Spanish) — homicide and self-defence in the exercise of duty; conduct found to be lawful.
  • Case Torres (in Spanish) — acquittal confirmed in aggravated homicide, consolidating the defendant's innocence.
  • Case Vallejos (in Spanish) — discontinuance in negligent homicide, definitively closing the criminal proceedings.
MORE ON HOMICIDE (ES)

Jury Trial

Argentine jury trial system: jury instructions, evidence litigation and the finality of not-guilty verdicts. Also covers the standards for the defence's appeal of guilty verdicts (double review) and the right to a natural judge in jury jurisdictions.
  • Case Acosta (in Spanish) — jury instructions with gender perspective; treatment of evidence in a violence context.
  • Case Aguado (in Spanish) — complaint reaffirming unconstitutionality of art. 22 bis when it displaces the natural jury.
  • Case Antonacci (in Spanish) — prosecution complaint against not-guilty verdict; Cassation sharply limits the prosecution's appellate rights.
  • Case Aref & Seitz (in Spanish) — jury conviction and scope of cassation review of evidential assessment.
  • Case Barros (in Spanish) — homicide for criminal purpose decided by a jury; evidence and sentence analysed.
  • Case Benítez & González (in Spanish) — aggravated robbery with 10–2 verdict; Cassation explains what constitutes a valid majority.
  • Case C-75.999 (in Spanish) — double review and reasonable doubt: standard for reviewing convictions without becoming a "second jury".
  • Case Castillo (in Spanish) — simple homicide by jury; reasonableness of the verdict and the charge discussed.
  • Case Díaz Villalba (in Spanish) — unconstitutionality of art. 22 bis CPP when it displaces the jury as "most natural judge".
  • Case Durán (in Spanish) — co-authorship between brothers in aggravated robbery; verdict and attributed participation analysed.
MORE ON JURY TRIAL (ES)

Immigration & Deportation

Defence of migrants: expulsions, banishments and extraditions. Several rulings block automatic deportations following minor convictions or refuse extradition to protect family unity and basic human rights against the rigidity of immigration legislation.
  • Case Acosta Allende (in Spanish) — Supreme Court rejects Paraguay's extradition request and keeps the accused in Argentina.
  • Case Anaya (in Spanish) — defence against expulsion of a foreign national: best interests of the child and family reunification weighed.
  • Case Apaza León (in Spanish) — expulsion blocked: a suspended sentence does not automatically enable deportation.
  • Case Calle Borda (in Spanish) — early expulsion: authorisation to leave Argentina treated as sentence served.
  • Case Chávez Ruiz (in Spanish) — automatic expulsion for minor convictions blocked; proportionality against deportation.
  • Case Da Silva (in Spanish) — extradition to Brazil denied: Supreme Court overturns the grant for breach of treaty.
  • Case González (in Spanish) — Supreme Court blocks expulsion: sentence does not reach the 3-year minimum required by law.
  • Case ICS (in Spanish) — health injunction: urgent national ID document for a vulnerable foreign national via interim measure.
  • Case López García (in Spanish) — banishment: departure from Argentina and early release as a way of serving the sentence.
  • Case Olarte (in Spanish) — banishment: release and expulsion to country of origin as an alternative to prolonged imprisonment.
MORE ON IMMIGRATION & DEPORTATION (ES)

Criminal Procedure

Due process guarantees: nullities of judgments, procedural defects and the right to appeal. Decisions reviewing how the prosecution and courts acted, overturning convictions where the right to a defence or judicial impartiality was violated.
  • Case Albarenque (in Spanish) — criteria on review of indictments and scope of cassation control.
  • Case Balmaceda (in Spanish) — partial nullity for deficiencies in judicial reasoning; evidence must be revisited.
  • Case Beati (in Spanish) — nullity for lack of effective technical defence at a key hearing.
  • Case Belizan (in Spanish) — limits on use of evidence obtained in other proceedings without defence oversight.
  • Case Chacón (in Spanish) — procedural guarantees in criminal procedure.
MORE ON CRIMINAL PROCEDURE (ES)

Private Prosecution & Victims

Standing and procedural rights of the querellante (private prosecutor). Cases covering the right to appeal discontinuances and acquittals, blocking premature closures and the victim's active role in the criminal process.
  • Case Aráoz (in Spanish) — CSJN: the private prosecutor may appeal a premature discontinuance.
  • Case Cossio (in Spanish) — corruption: prescription overturned at the private prosecutor's request; trial ordered.
  • Case Miguelez (in Spanish) — nullity where no real opportunity was given to decide to join as private prosecutor.
  • Case Montoya (in Spanish) — trafficking: compensation reviewed for arbitrariness at private prosecutor's request.
  • Case Poma (in Spanish) — child cases: the defence cannot block a child's representative from filing an appeal.
  • Case Save (in Spanish) — forfeiture and use requested by private prosecutors; reparative criteria.
  • Case Toledo (in Spanish) — premature discontinuance overturned; key evidence ordered.
  • Case Torres (in Spanish) — sentencing hearing requested by private prosecutor; proceedings not suspended.
MORE ON PRIVATE PROSECUTION (ES)

Robbery & Theft

Property offences: aggravating circumstances such as use of a weapon, participation as a gang and involvement of minors. Includes rulings on attempt, secondary participation and defective identification parades that allow authorship to be challenged.
  • Case Akhimien (in Spanish) — robbery and attempted homicide of a police officer: acquittal on reasonable doubt; intent not established.
  • Case Barez (in Spanish) — Cassation quashes conviction for attempted armed robbery; insufficient evidence.
  • Case Basilotta (in Spanish) — Supreme Court upholds the right to appeal aggravated robbery convictions against excessive formalism.
  • Case Chazarreta (in Spanish) — sentence reduced in aggravated robbery; more proportionate sentence ordered.
  • Case Cifarelli (in Spanish) — companion acquitted; gang aggravant dropped for absence of actual organisation.
  • Case Duarte (in Spanish) — completed armed robbery reclassified as attempt; significant sentence reduction.
  • Case González (in Spanish) — bail for theft and unlicensed weapon possession: no concrete procedural risk.
  • Case Noguera (in Spanish) — acquittal for aggravated armed robbery: ballistic fitness of the weapon not proved; reasonable doubt.
  • Case Sakal (in Spanish) — use of minors: the Court limits the art. 41 quater aggravant where the adult did not exploit the minor.
  • Case Schmidt Duartes (in Spanish) — a shovel was not classified as a "firearm"; armed robbery aggravant dropped.
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Trafficking in Persons

Human trafficking and exploitation: recruitment, vitiated consent and economic reparation for victims. Includes acquittals for failure to prove exploitation and application of the non-punishment principle for victims in situations of extreme vulnerability.
  • Case Arcidiacono (in Spanish) — acquittal for international trafficking to Italy: no proof of exploitation; in dubio pro reo.
  • Case Brallar (in Spanish) — acquittal: undeclared rural work is not "trafficking" without proof of coercion or subjugation.
  • Case Cataldo (in Spanish) — conviction for aggravated labour trafficking; 36 victims and AR$500,000 reparation each.
  • Case Lenguaza Noguera (in Spanish) — conviction for aggravated sexual trafficking; AR$6M reparation via the Anti-Trafficking Fund.
  • Case Miguelez (in Spanish) — trafficking for sexual exploitation; victim statements and contextual evidence assessed.
  • Case Serrano (in Spanish) — sexual exploitation network; ruling defines each accused's role and liability.
  • Case Tapia (in Spanish) — woman initially accused recognised as trafficking victim; gender perspective and non-punishment applied.
  • Case Zea (in Spanish) — webcam trafficking: proving recruitment, economic benefit and vulnerability in digital environments.
MORE ON TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS (ES)
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