Ruiz, a single mother, was attacked and raped in 2021 by a man who walked her home.
The young Indigenous Mexican mother who was sentenced to six years in prison after killing her rapist has had her case withdrawn by prosecutors.
Prosecutors in Mexico announced they were withdrawing the case against Roxana Ruiz, 23, on Saturday, according to the Associated Press.
Ruiz, a single mother, was attacked and raped in 2021 by a man she knew from the neighborhood who had walked her home after they had a drink with a friend. He asked to stay the night after walking her home and they went to bed separately, but the man attacked her as she slept and threatened to kill her, her defense attorney said.
After Ruiz was attacked, she fought back by punching her rapist in the face and then used a shirt to choke him to death. She then dragged his body into the street in a bag where she was seen by police and taken into custody.
In the initial trial, prosecutors said she was guilty of homicide because they claimed the hit to the head would have been enough to protect herself, but that she instead continued her attack and killed her rapist.
But the prosecutor's office has since said they had reexamined the case and found that Ruiz was “exempt from guilt” as she had acted in self-defense, the AP reported.
"It means that they’re recognizing her innocence," Ángel Carrera, Ruiz’s lawyer, told the AP. “It’s a recognition that she simply defended herself."
