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(NEWS UPDATED 9/16/22)

MENDOZA . A jury in Mendoza found former police officer Darío Jesús Chaves Rubio guilty of the transfemicide of Melody Barrera, murdered at age 27 in August 2020. He was also guilty of committing the crime with malice aforethought, cruelty, a firearm, and being a police officer. Minutes later, Judge Nancy Lecek announced the conviction for the hate crime against gender identity and the other aggravating factors, along with the sentence: life imprisonment. The reasons for the sentence, said the judge who led the hearing, will be made public within the timeframe established by law.

The trial and sentencing are significant for several reasons. It recognizes that it was a hate homicide based on gender identity and also takes into account other aggravating factors. In other words, it adds to the legal legacy of the 2018 Diana Sacayán trial. Furthermore, it is the first time in Mendoza that a hate crime has been sentenced, and it also reflects activists' demands for justice. It is also the first time that a transfemicide verdict has been handed down by a jury, as the trial was conducted through this system. The trial was also broadcast on the Mendoza Judiciary's YouTube channel.

"We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of the crime of aggravated homicide due to hatred of gender expression or gender identity, transvesticide ," the court read tonight at the Criminal Judicial Center in the city of Mendoza, where the trial is being held. They also found him guilty of aggravated homicide due to treachery, aggravated homicide due to the use of a firearm, cruelty, and for being an active police officer. In other words, they agreed with the prosecutor's plea.

Before sentencing, the judge requested confidentiality regarding the deliberations. "The law requires you never to reveal what happened in the deliberations room," she told them. The sentence was read a few minutes later and applied the same aggravating circumstances and circumstances for homicide provided for in the Argentine Penal Code.

Chaves Rubio had been charged by the prosecutor's office with homicide with five aggravating factors: hatred of gender identity or expression, known as transvesticide or transfemicide. He was also charged with treachery; cruelty; abusing his position as a police officer; and using a firearm. 

A message against impunity

The Justice for Melody Commission—made up of transvestite and diversity activists—considered the ruling a milestone. "Because it meant that, with a jury delivering the verdict on the crime against Melody Barrera, which occurred on August 29, 2020, both the community and the State took a stand in favor of the right to a life free of gender-based violence, to gender identity, and its expression . It sends a message against impunity: a message that says that transvestite/trans lives matter , that makes visible the permanent violation of rights to which people who are part of the collective are exposed. Also, a message against institutional violence: the jury considered that the crime was aggravated by having been carried out by a police officer, who used his service weapon to attempt against a life that, by virtue of his public duties, he swore to protect."

First hate crime trial in Mendoza

It was the first time a hate crime went to trial in this province. It began on Monday, September 12th, and continued until today. Throughout the week, the transvestite and transgender community of Mendoza held a variety of activities, demonstrations, and talks. Activists Alma Fernández, Florencia Guimaraes, Daniela Ruiz, and Say Sacayán traveled from Buenos Aires. Greta Pena, Undersecretary of Diversity Policies, is also present. 

“Melody Barrera's trans gender identity ran throughout the entire debate at her trial: the structural discrimination, her suffering, joys, and, above all, her right to live life and develop freely. That's what the killer targeted, and the jury understood it that way: it was transvesticide,” Pena told Presentes. She highlighted “the tireless work of LGBTI+ organizations in Mendoza, with the support of organizations across the country,” as well as the presence and briefs of the Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversity. “Melody's family and her lawyers—all of this coming together—allowed us to reach this historic ruling,” analyzed the Undersecretary of Diversity Policies at the Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversity of the Nation.

Marlene Wayar was summoned as an expert witness and testified at the trial. "This crime is one of many that reach us due to its repercussions, but it's the tip of the iceberg that shows the number of crimes that don't advance to trial and result in convictions. In the continuum of violence that transvestite and trans people have suffered throughout their lives, this is the highest level of violence that ends a life. But these are all overwhelming conditions that mean that even today, life expectancy for the community doesn't exceed 35 years," she told Presentes. She also warned: "Public policies are needed so that this doesn't end with just one individual in prison, but rather an entire society must work to prevent these types of individuals capable of committing transvesticide and transfemicide."

What Melody's body told

The final day of the trial began this morning with arguments at the Mendoza Criminal Court. The prosecutors spoke first. Chief Homicide Prosecutor Fernando Guzzo provided a series of technical explanations explaining why there was no "legitimate defense," an argument maintained by the defendant's defense.

Darío Jesús Chaves Rubio testified on the third day of the trial and once again said he was attacked by Melody. "I was very scared. I don't know how many times I fired," Chaves said.

However, in their closing arguments, the prosecution explained that Melody's body showed no signs of defense, much less a struggle. "What her body tells us is that Chaves Rubio riddled her with bullets."

“Until the day he was arrested, he lived his life as if nothing had happened. With absolute indifference, carrying the gun,” Guzzo emphasized. “I believe he did this solely out of the omnipotence he felt based on his personality, playing it cool and pretending not to be caught and that this act would go unpunished. During his statement, he never mentioned Melody. He never apologized. Melody remained, to him, and to this day, an object,” the prosecutor stated. 

Chaves Rubio's saga of lies was also evident in the prosecution's argument. "The first thing that became clear in this debate is that Chaves Rubio lied. He lied to his wife, he lied to his family, he lied when he said there was a robbery. He lied, tailoring the story to suit his needs."

The judge in charge of guiding the hearing was Nancy Lecek. The plaintiffs were represented by attorneys Viviana Beigel and Lucas Lecour, from the human rights organization Xumek .

How was the reconstruction of the events?

When seeking a sentence, the prosecution took into account Melody's state of vulnerability—common to the entire transvestite community.

On Monday, at the opening of the trial, he reconstructed the events. "There was an argument, and Melody ended up throwing pepper spray in his face. The defendant left the scene in his vehicle. At 3:08 a.m., a Cabify driver was passing by, to whom he announced what he would do: 'I'm going to get a gun and shoot the transvestites .' This is ultimately what he did. Mr. Chaves Rubio, with complete coldness, anger, malice, and cruelty, began attacking Melody. He fired six shots, five of which went through her. Of those five that hit vital areas of her body, four of them were in her back. He left her to die and fled his car at full speed."

The evidence against the former police officer

The transfemicide of Melody Barrera took place in the early hours of Saturday, August 29, 2020. Melody was shot six times from a vehicle on Correa Saa Street and Costanera Street, in Guaymallén, a few meters from the border with the capital of Mendoza.

Several spent 9mm shell casings were found at the scene. A ballistics examination of Chaves's pistol determined that the bullets and shell casings were a match. The defendant was arrested on September 17, 2020, at the office where he worked.

The defendant's defense was led by attorney Pablo Cazabán. On behalf of his client, he asked the jury to impose a sentence "commensurate with what happened." He stated: "Various things have been exaggerated. We have heard qualified witnesses, but they show the shortcomings that the State and society have in protecting transgender and transvestite rights, and this cannot be achieved with a conviction," said defense attorney Pablo Cazabán.

“Melody wore headphones to drown out the insults.”

Melody Barrera was a 27-year-old trans woman. She lived with her mother and had transitioned when she was 16. “Melody was dedicated to doing housework. Her mother said she was impeccable. Her house was spotless. By the time Darío Chaves Rubio murdered her, she wanted to go to school,” defense attorney Viviana Beigel recounted.

“I demanded that she finish high school, and thank God she did. I also convinced her to start a career in 2021, when the pandemic was over. She would have liked to be a child psychologist. I told her no, that she'd rather study food science, which she also liked: she knew all the names of bacteria. But she never got around to it,” Victoria Pincheira, Melody's mother, told Presentes. She also recalled that “she made a lot of jokes, teased me, teased me, hid things from me, and was mischievous.”

Melody couldn't escape discrimination against the transvestite community. " I wore headphones because I didn't want to hear the mockery, the insults on the street, the discrimination I suffered every day for thinking I was different, for wanting to be different, for wanting to be Melody ," Beigel explained.

And he added: “Melody is a person who deserves to be mourned. In her are thousands of other Melodys who couldn't be and who, in their youth, were victims of individuals who took and shaped their thinking in this society that hates transsexuality, is homophobic, and is discriminatory .”

Justice with a gender and diversity perspective

In her opening statement, Homicide Prosecutor Andrea Lazo stated that " it is necessary for this justice system to respond with a gender and diversity perspective in the face of these types of crimes ." She addressed the jury: "Today you can represent this justice system, you can represent Melody, and you can represent the groups that have in some way been violated or marginalized in our society, putting an end to it, a halt to the hatred, discrimination, and violence against those who feel different, those who perceive themselves as different." This trial was accompanied throughout the week by a series of activities organized by transgender and gender diversity organizations to demand Justice for Melody in Mendoza and also in Buenos Aires City. There, last Friday, transgender and gender diversity activists marched to the Provincial House of Mendoza, just a few meters from Callao and Corrientes Streets, to read a manifesto and demand justice . "In Mendoza and throughout the country, it is time for the State and its institutions to begin to repair so much violence against our lives."