First-District Judge Luis Edwin Mugarte Guerrero died after battling a COVID-19 infection, the Yucatan state judiciary announced.
The prominent judge died Saturday three weeks after entering Centro de Especialidades Médicas del Sureste, a private clinic in Merida’s hotel zone. Just days ago, as his condition worsened, relatives were publicly asking for blood donations.
Mugarte, known for promoting mediation to resolve conflicts, had presided over high-profile cases such as femicides and homicides. In May, he sentenced a convicted rapist, who had sexually abused a minor, to over six years in prison.
The legal scholar received his law degree from the Autonomous University of Yucatán in 1994 and completed a master’s degree in law there in 2004.
In May 2005, he was appointed Mixed Civil and Family Judge of the Third State Judicial Department; in 2006 he held the position of Social Defense Judge of the Third State Judicial Department and later that of Criminal Judge in Merida in the Sixth and Eighth Criminal Courts of the First State Judicial Department.
In October 2011, Mugarte was appointed Judge of Control of the Accusatory and Oral Criminal System in Valladolid, and was later transferred to the First Judicial District, based in Mérida.
“Judge Mugarte Guerrero enjoyed great recognition not only for his work as a judge, but also for his academic contributions inside and outside the institution, as well as for his human sense and dedication with which he conducted himself in his professional career,” the judiciary declared in a statement.
