San Luis women who pleaded guilty to ballot harvesting set to appear back in court today

YUMA, Ariz. (KECY, KYMA) - Today the two San Luis women who pleaded guilty to ballot harvesting in the 2020 primary election had their sentencing delayed yet again. 

Judge Roger Nelson approved the delay of Guillermina Fuentes and Alma Juarez’s hearing due to a death in the family of Guillermina Fuentes’s defense attorney.

This is now the third time sentencing has been delayed for former mayor of San Luis, Guillermina Fuentes and San Luis resident Alma Juarez. 

Even before the women showed up at court, Fuentes’s lawyers had previously filed a motion for a delay because of witness and attorney scheduling conflicts.

Fuentes’s team argue’s in a court document, that “requiring ms. Fuentes to have a mitigation hearing without her key witnesses violates her right to due process.”

Fuentes and Juarez each pleaded guilty to a charge of ballot abuse, three months ago.  

Acknowledging they collected early ballots for people who weren’t family members, didn’t live with them or weren’t receiving care from them.

State prosecutors are seeking a one-year prison sentence for Fuentes.

Meanwhile, Juarez pleaded guilty to the same charge but it was designated as a misdemeanor after she agreed to cooperate with prosecutors - an agreement calling only for probation. 

San Luis resident David Lara who has been very vocal about this case, says this is damaging to San Luis's reputation.

“Unfortunately, what has really made San Luis famous is ballot harvesting, trafficking like in this case, recalls, so everything is around politics and elections. I would like for San Luis to be famous for other things other than voter fraud,” said Lara.

Meanwhile, Fuentes's attorneys argue that "Ms. Fuentes - a trusted, long time leader in her small community - is the subject of a political prosecution that threatens her liberty."

Fuentes and Juarez will be back in court for their next hearing on October 6th.