Overview
- The Supreme Court struck down Colima’s rule that made embezzlement timeless to prosecute in a 6–3 vote and upheld the constitutionality of embezzlement by omission in a 9–0 vote.
- The case stems from two former Villa de Álvarez officials accused of failing to release 25.3 million pesos for worker pay and benefits from the 2017–2018 budgets.
- The majority said endless exposure to prosecution violates legal certainty and warned that open-ended time limits can fuel political payback after changes in power.
- Dissenting justices Lenia Batres, Estela Ríos, and Yasmín Esquivel argued that letting embezzlement prescribe could breed impunity because omissions often stay hidden for years.
- The Court sent remaining procedural and legality questions back to a federal appellate panel, leaving next steps in the hands of a Circuit Collegiate Court.