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Edificio de una corte de apelación con columnas y escalinata en Santo Domingo
Imagen alusiva a una sede judicial de apelación en Santo Domingo. · Imagen generada para EPM

Appeals court modifies sentences for three in El Gavilán case

The Third Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeal of the National District modified the sentences of Luis Peña Cedeño, Pilar Irene Medina Trinidad de Dotel and…

--- The context --- The El Gavilán case reached the Third Criminal Chamber of the Court of Appeal of the National District, concerning a network said to have removed and altered criminal records in exchange for bribes. That point is kept only as an attributed allegation. --- The facts --- The court modified the sentences of three defendants and found Luis Peña Cedeño, Pilar Irene Medina Trinidad de Dotel and José Ramón Quesada Carmona guilty, replacing part of the prison terms with house arrest and conditional suspension. Luis Peña Cedeño received two years in prison under house arrest and a fine of RD$40,000. Pilar Irene Medina Trinidad de Dotel and José Ramón Quesada Carmona received five years, with three years under house arrest and two years conditionally suspended, plus a fine equivalent to 100 minimum public-sector wages and the court's conditions. --- The positions --- The court acquitted Víctor Gilberto Mercedes Gómez and ordered an end to any coercive measure against him related to the proceedings. Luis Peña Cedeño and José Ramón Quesada Carmona will pay criminal costs; those for Pilar Irene Medina Trinidad de Dotel were declared ex officio because she had assistance from the Public Defense. --- What remains unknown --- The source does not detail the conditions imposed by the court or how house arrest and the suspended part of the sentences will be supervised. --- Unanswered questions --- What are the conditions of the conditional suspension? How will house arrest be verified in each case? What immediate effect will the end of measures in favor of Víctor Gilberto Mercedes Gómez have? --- EPM analysis --- The ruling distinguishes responsibilities: it upholds declared guilt, changes how sentences are served and, at the same time, acquits one person and lifts the measures that weighed on him. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, the decision matters for its internal balance: the court upheld convictions and fines, replaced part of the imprisonment with house arrest and conditional suspension, and recognized at the same time that Víctor Gilberto Mercedes Gómez should be acquitted and left without coercive measures. Reading the full ruling, with its differences by person, avoids reducing it to a single headline.
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