Seven men who used firearms and clubs to steal ballot boxes from a Mexicali polling station during the June 2021 elections will avoid prison after striking a deal with the Baja California Attorney General’s Office (FGE). A judge approved the agreement at a hearing on May 26, requiring each defendant to pay just 3,000 pesos (roughly $150 USD) to the state electoral institute.
The payments will be split into three monthly installments. Each man must also stay away from electoral authority offices for six months. If they meet both conditions, all criminal charges will be dropped and the men will carry no criminal record.
A Legal Loophole Made the Deal Possible
The presiding judge accepted the plea arrangement because the combined charges against the defendants carried a maximum sentence of less than five years. Under Mexico’s criminal procedure code, that threshold allows a conditional suspension of proceedings, essentially letting defendants negotiate their way out of prosecution if the offense is not considered grave enough.
The armed robbery of ballot boxes is classified as an electoral crime rather than a violent felony in this case. That classification kept the potential sentence low enough to qualify for the abbreviated process. Critics say the outcome sends a troubling message about the consequences of attacking democratic infrastructure.
Two Defendants Still at Large
Not all suspects benefited from the deal. Two additional defendants, identified only as Carmen Guadalupe and Ricardo, failed to appear at the May 26 hearing. The court issued arrest warrants for both. Their cases remain open, and they cannot access the plea agreement unless they turn themselves in.
The original incident took place during Baja California’s June 6, 2021 elections, a day widely described as the most violent election day in the state’s recent history. In Tijuana, roughly 120 miles west of the Mexicali polling station, human remains were left on voting tables in a separate act of electoral intimidation.
Four Years to Reach a Resolution
The case took nearly four years to resolve. The armed group entered the Mexicali polling location, threatened election workers, and seized ballot boxes along with other electoral materials. Despite the severity of the crime, the FGE ultimately offered terms that amount to less than the cost of a modest dinner for two in many Mexicali restaurants.
The 3,000 peso fine per defendant totals 21,000 pesos (about $1,050 USD) across all seven men. That sum will go to the state electoral institute, the body responsible for organizing elections in Baja California. No restitution was ordered for poll workers who were threatened at gunpoint.
The case was first reported by Punto Norte.