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Puerto Plata appeals court revokes pardon for Wander Franco

The Puerto Plata Court of Appeal revoked Wander Franco's judicial pardon, imposed three years of suspended imprisonment and upheld the 10 years prison sentence…

--- The context --- The Court of Appeal of the Judicial Department of Puerto Plata has revoked the judicial pardon that had benefited baseball player Wander Franco. The case concerns sexual and psychological abuse against an adolescent, and it has passed through several appeals and two trials. --- The facts --- In its new ruling, the court imposed on Franco a sentence of three years of suspended imprisonment and set aside the benefit that had exempted him from serving a prison term. The decision modifies the ruling issued in May 2026 by the Ad Hoc Collegiate Court of Puerto Plata, which had found him criminally responsible but granted him the judicial pardon. In the same decision, the court upheld the 10 years prison sentence imposed on Martha Vanessa Chevalier, the mother of the adolescent. The suspended sentence imposed on Franco remains subject to the conditions determined by the courts, while published reports do not yet specify the rules he must follow during that period. --- The positions --- During the appeal, the Public Prosecutor's Office asked for five years in prison for Franco, considering that the pardon granted did not correspond to the facts for which he was found guilty. It also asked that the 10 years sentence against Chevalier be maintained, and the court upheld it. --- What remains unknown --- It has not been specified what rules Franco must follow while the suspended sentence remains in force or how compliance with them will be monitored. The published reports also do not detail any procedural steps that may follow this ruling by the Court of Appeal. --- Unanswered questions --- What specific rules must Franco follow during the period of the suspended sentence? How will the courts supervise compliance with those conditions in practice? What concrete procedural effects follow from the revocation of the judicial pardon in this case? --- EPM analysis --- The history of the proceedings helps explain the decision: in the first trial, Franco received two years of suspended imprisonment, that sentence was annulled and a new trial was ordered. In May of this year, the court again found him responsible and granted him the pardon now revoked, so the appeal court acted on the benefit granted. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, the decision shows how judicial instances operate when a higher court reviews a sentence and a benefit granted at one stage is set aside at the next. Public discussion of the sanction, present throughout the proceedings, will remain focused on proportionality between the facts tried and the penalty finally established, without anticipating judgments on guilt beyond what the courts have already ruled at each stage of this case in Puerto Plata.
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