Sunday, February 5, 2023 | 8:45 a.m.
Simultaneously, the bloc of Peronist deputies (Frejupa) and opposition benches from the province of La Pampa announced that they will promote a trial jury for poor performance against judge Ana Clara Pérez Ballester, who granted custody of the child Lucio Dupuy to his mother, Magdalena Espósito Valenti, and his partner Abigaíl Páez, both sentenced on February 2 for killing, torturing and sexually abusing the 5-year-old boy.
Once the sentence of the shocking crime was known, the Pampas political leadership echoed the claim of the paternal family of Lucio Dupuy, who focused their accusations against the magistrate, with the intention of evaluating a possible dismissal.
“The third murderer (of my grandson) is Ana Clara Pérez Ballester, a minority judge from General Pico. There are three murderers here: two are the ones who killed Lucio and one who delivered him on a gold platter to be killed. This judge is still working, making the same tricks, but she has no empathy or heart, ”Ramon Dupuy, Lucio’s grandfather, had said in advance of the sentence that was released this week.
The performance of Pérez Ballester, head of the Family and Minor Court No. 1 of the Second Judicial District, was always questioned by Lucio’s father and grandparents from the beginning of the process. They assured that the magistrate handed over the minor in custody to her mother, without taking the corresponding socio-environmental precautions and that she never listened to her proposals.
In the midst of these reproaches, the Judiciary had already ruled on the behavior of Pérez Ballester.
In June 2022, the Superior Court of Justice, in a divided ruling, prevented progress with an administrative summary for the validation of the agreement of the parties signed by the judge and by which Lucio’s aunt, Leticia Hidalgo, returned Esposito’s possession. Valentine, the mother. There were 3 votes in favor of archiving this procedure, against two negative votes.
In La Pampa there is no Judicial Council, but rather a specific procedure with legislative participation to sanction and remove judges. With the internal judicial route blocked, the trial jury is therefore the last resort left to investigate the judge’s actions. It is a mechanism regulated by Provincial Law 313, which establishes the conditions and reasons for displacing prosecutors, first instance judges and chambermaids.
So far, only two processes are known to be in progress to dismiss Pérez Ballester. One of them is the one announced by the provincial deputy and pre-candidate for lieutenant governor for Peronism Alicia Mayoral, who confirmed that Peronism will promote an investigation against the judge, although it has not yet been made official.
The other, meanwhile, has already been entered by the opposition legislators Martín Ardohain and María Laura Trapaglia, accompanied by Matías Traba and Eduardo Pepa. The formal complaint alleges two reasons: poor performance of her duties due to repeated breach of the duties of a judicial officer, and repeated negligence in the exercise of her position.
According to the text headed by deputy Ardohain, the judge would have incurred several shortcomings: “a socio-environmental report on the family context was not made, where Lucio was going to live”; “no information was given, nor were witnesses called”; “the minor was not heard”; “It was not approached from the Court by a team of professionals” and “the father of the minor, who had shared personal care, and parental responsibility, was not notified,” among other arguments.
However, for the scrutiny of the judge’s conduct, some previous steps are necessary.
The court that evaluates the performance of the magistrates is made up of five members: the president of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), Elena Victoria Fresco; two deputies -together with two substitutes- who are appointed annually in the last ordinary session of the year: and two lawyers from the pampas registration, which is defined by lottery. Those members of the legal sector have not yet been appointed.
