By Staff Reporter |
A Pima County judge sentenced an illegal alien to less than three years in prison for a fatal hit-and-run.
Superior Court Judge Danielle Constant sentenced illegal alien Alexis Eduardo Ibarra-Guerrero, 18, to 2.5 years in prison for the hit-and-run death of Sally Alcaraz Rodriguez, 75, in Tucson. At the time of the crime, Ibarra-Guerrero was already living in the U.S. on an overstayed visa.
Ibarra-Guerrero earned 100 days credit for his time in jail. He will be on a supervised release following his imprisonment.
Ibarra-Guerrero, who doesn’t have a driver’s license, struck Rodriguez with his vehicle last November. He drove for several blocks with her body atop his vehicle, dropped it off, and then left her to die on the road. Rodriguez was walking through her neighborhood, heading to a bus stop to go to work. Ibarra-Guerrero turned himself into police 10 days after he fled the scene.
Police said Ibarra-Guerrero was driving a 2010 Chevrolet Camaro on the scene.
Rodriguez’s family shared that she was the “matriarch” of their family: a beloved grandmother, devoted member of her church, and a caregiver to a 100-year-old patient. The family is still raising funds to cover Rodriguez’s funeral and burial expenses through GoFundMe.
Her daughter, Mary Rodriguez Romero, said Ibarra-Guerroro advocated for stronger responses to crimes like the one Ibarra-Guerro committed.
“The choices people make have real consequences, and our children, our future, must learn responsibility,” said Romero.
Police charged Ibarra-Guerrero with leaving the scene of an accident. They said they could find no other evidence indicating the hit-and-run was anything more than an accident.
Arizona law classifies leaving the scene of an accident as a class 2 felony. This felony carries a mitigated sentence of three years, minimum sentence of four years, presumption sentence of five years, maximum sentence of 10 years, and aggravated sentence of 12.5 years.
If Ibarra-Guerrero had a driver’s license, he would have also lost it for 10 years.
Rodriguez’s family expressed their disappointment in the lack of charges for her death, and the low sentencing.
Judge Constant was appointed to the Pima County Superior Court in October 2022 by Governor Doug Ducey following the retirement of former judge Deborah Bernini.
Prior to coming to the superior court, Constant was the managing partner of the Jennings Strouss & Salmon Tucson office going back to 2017.
Last summer Constant issued the controversial sentencing in the case against Malyn Christine Pavolka, the 34-year-old who killed five people in Pima County in 2024. Pavolka received up to 30 years in the state mental health facility instead of prison for reckless driving that caused a massive car wreck. She had declined to take medication for her bipolar disorder.
A Facebook page that appears to belong to Ibarra-Guerrero (spelled without the dash) indicated that he came to the United States from Sonora, MS, Brazil and went to Sahuaro High School. Among his few “liked” pages on the platform were the Mexican consulate and a Mexican street racing page called Street Racing Cuu.
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