The Criminal Chamber of Río Cuarto issued the full dismissal of Roberto Marcos Barzola. The defendant had been charged with sexual abuse followed by death. The crime against Nora Dalmasso occurred in November 2006 at her home in the Villa Golf neighborhood.
The court declared the criminal action extinguished due to the expiration of procedural deadlines. The court considered that almost 19 years had already passed since the event. According to the Penal Code, the statute of limitations for this crime is fulfilled after 15 years.
Barzola was the last defendant who remained formally in the case. The dismissal was solved without opposition from the Public Prosecutor's Office. The decision closes one of the most high-profile cases in the province.
The arguments of the judicial ruling
The ruling was signed by judges Pablo Bianchi, Carlos González Castellanos, and María Victoria Cavagnaro. The judges concluded that there were no grounds to suspend the passage of time. They also found no elements that would interrupt the statute of limitations period.
They rejected the argument that the investigation of the victim's family members could justify the delay. The plaintiff had pointed out the inability of Dalmasso's husband and son to act. For the judges, this did not represent an "insurmountable legal obstacle."
