Businesswoman Maricsa Polet Alfaro Cerna was in jail for only four months for attacking and causing the death of the security guard Juan Martínez Torreson May 3, in the Las Palmas de El Golf urbanization, in Trujillo. On October 7, the Second Criminal Appeals Chamber of La Libertad decided to release her.
After being sentenced – on June 5 – to four years, six months and 26 days in prison, Alfaro Cerna was held in the El Milagro women’s prison, but her defense filed an appeal against said sentence, so the hearing took place on September 24.
The appeal was analyzed by judges Víctor Alberto Martín Burgos Mariños, Jorge Humberto Colmenares Cavero and Manuel Federico Loyola Florián, who revoked the ruling of the Third Transitory Unipersonal Criminal Court of the Flagrancy Unit of La Libertad and determined that the accused only serve two years of a suspended sentence, that is, in freedom.
Maricsa Alfaro Cerna, the woman who ran over the security guard Juan Martínez, in May 2026.
In addition, they established that Alfaro Cerna must appear every 60 days before the execution court to justify and register his activities with due biometric control, not to change his real address without prior authorization from the execution court. In addition, it is obliged to comply with the payment of civil reparation and must not commit a new intentional crime.
However, said court did confirm the decision of the first instance regarding the definitive disqualification of the businesswoman from driving any type of motor vehicle.
The most controversial points of the sentence that freed Maricsa Alfaro
The ruling of the Second Criminal Appeals Chamber of La Libertad contains arguments that can generate different opinions, given that it is a case in which there is a deceased person and the accused was intoxicated, since he registered one gram and eighty-four centigrams of alcohol per liter of blood (1.84 G/L), and had an expired driver’s license.
In its resolution, the court recalls that article 57 of the Penal Code empowers the judge to suspend the execution of the sentence if certain requirements are met. For this reason, it points out that the sentence imposed on Alfaro Cerna, of 4 four, six months and 26 days, “satisfies the temporal requirement.” “It is lower than the legal limit of the suspension of the execution of the sentence,” he indicated.
Furthermore, it alleges that “the accused has no criminal record and does not register the status of a repeat or habitual offender.” The court indicates that the central point of the debate is the prognosis regarding the future conduct of the accused, that is, that she does not commit an intentional crime again.
“The defense maintains that the accused collaborated from the first moment, surrendered to the police, complied with the rules of conduct, made payments on account of civil reparation (which to date amount to S/. 130,000.00 soles), accepted the facts through early conclusion and has domiciliary, family and work roots,” the court indicates in its arguments.
It even emphasizes that manslaughter, a crime for which Maricsa Alfaro was convicted, “is not an intentional crime nor is it among the crimes excluded from suspension by article 57 of the Penal Code.”
“The seriousness of the conduct was already taken into account when classifying it (involuntary manslaughter aggravated by driving while intoxicated); it has also been assessed when imposing the penalty of permanent disqualification from driving motor vehicles,” the ruling states.
This is the ruling of the Second Criminal Appeals Chamber for the case of Maricsa Alfaro.
He even points out that in the case file there is no evidence that the driver tried to escape. “The accused has no complaints for failure to comply with rules of conduct, she handed over her passport, appeared at the proceedings and was found at her home when the authority requested her,” the court argued.
The Second Criminal Appeals Chamber indicated that the crime of omission of assistance was not a matter for the exercise of criminal action. “Nor has a complaint or accusation been substantiated for failure to provide assistance or escape from the scene of the accident linked to the events,” he specifies.
Furthermore, it considers that Maricsa Alfaro “is a person with a known and stable work activity (manager of a company), with higher education and no criminal record” and that the aggravating factors of driving while intoxicated and having an expired license were already taken into account in the sentence and in the disqualification to drive.
“The circumstance of having driven with an expired license since 2022 and under the influence of alcohol is serious, but it was already considered when determining the “quantum” of the penalty and disqualification (precisely, the definitive disqualification to drive any type of motor vehicle neutralizes the risk of repetition),” the court argued.
Another notable fact about this case is that the accused was allowed to participate in the appeal hearing, since her defense proposed that she be questioned. Judge Víctor Burgos Mariños objected because he pointed out that “the criminal responsibility of the defendant is not a matter of debate, so it is not possible to question her.” However, the court, after putting the issue to a vote, approved his participation.
The position of the defense of the older children of the vigilante Juan Martínez
Lawyer Roberto Arteaga Robles, who represents the two eldest children of the security guard Juan Martínez Torres, told The Commerce that, on the part of the plaintiff, he can only appeal on the issue of civil compensation. In the process there are other lawyers who defend the other four children of the victim.
“We cannot participate in the issue of execution because it is a matter for the Public Ministry. Yes, we can argue and propose the annulment of the sentence, but that is at the discretion of the older children,” he stated.
He considered that the Second Court of Appeals of La Libertad “has evaluated said case in a segmented manner.” “One thing is the appeal of the execution, which is by Maricsa Alfaro, and another thing is the appeal for civil reparation. The issue of acceptance of responsibility can no longer be discussed because responsibility has already been accepted, only the execution or suspension is being considered,” he stated.
Sad farewell to the security guard Juan Martínez Torres in Trujillo. (photo.gec)
“You cannot appeal in another sense because in the first instance it was favorable and she was sentenced. Yes, you can appeal the issue of reparation, but the issue of the sentence cannot be increased or reduced,” he added.
Arteaga explained that the recent ruling established that Alfaro Cerna pay compensation of 400 thousand soles, but the defense had requested an amount of 600 thousand soles because in the process it has been proven that Juan Martínez Torres had six children in three couples, but only the wife has been recognized.
Ruling in favor of Maricsa Alfaro has generated outrage in Trujillo
Johnny Aurazo Murrugarra, editor of the Correo de La Libertad newspaper, told The Commerce that the release of the businesswoman Maricsa Alfaro has caused indignation among the citizens of Trujillo, even the local press has taken this decision of the Judiciary with surprise, as it did not expect a ruling of this nature.
He explained that Trujillo citizens question that in the case of Adrián Villar, who ran over and caused the death of the athlete Lizeth Marzano in Lima, he was given preventive detention, while Maricsa Alfaro was released, despite the fact that it was proven that she was driving while intoxicated and had an expired driver’s license since 2022.
Even Aurazo Murrugarra assured that, according to his sources, the news of Alfaro Cerna’s release has also surprised the Public Ministry, which was waiting for a ratification of the sentence imposed on the accused.
Regarding the members of the Second Criminal Appeals Chamber of La Libertad, Aurazo commented that they are magistrates with “extensive experience” and recalled that two of its members have been in charge of quite relevant cases in the north of the country.
In this context, the journalist recalled that judges Víctor Burgos Mariños and Jorge Colmenares Cavero, together with Manuel Sosaya López, then members of the First Criminal Appeals Chamber, sentenced retired PNP colonel and former mayor of Trujillo, Elidio Espinoza, to 30 years in prison in 2019 for the ‘Death Squad’ case.
In addition, Víctor Burgos Mariños filed a complaint, in October 2023, against Arturo Fernández, then mayor of Trujillo, because the latter publicly accused him of corruption and of linking him to an alleged criminal network called ‘Los Cuellos Blancos del Norte’. The Second Appeals Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of La Libertad ratified, in January 2026, the sentence of one year and eight months of suspended sentence for Fernández.
