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A new trial for Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco was ordered by an appeals court in his native Dominican Republic on Tuesday (December 9), the Associated Press reports.
The ruling follows Franco's attorneys pushing to have his June conviction for sexually abusing a minor and two-year sentencing overturned, while prosecutors have sought an extended five-year sentence. The appeals court ruled in favor of the Rays shortstop and ordered a new panel of judges to oversee his case.
“The court understood that there were many flaws, many omissions...many issues, and decided to send the case to a new trial,” said Teodosio Jáquez, Franco’s attorney, via the Associated Press.
Prosecutor José Martinez Montan, the district attorney for Puerto Plata, the province where the case is being heard, said he still believes in the evidence presented in the initial trial.
“In a new trial, the procedures will be reevaluated. We won the case in the first trial, and we expect the same in the new trial,” Montan said.
Franco was found guilty of sexual abuse of a minor on June 26, however, his two-year prison sentence was immediately suspended, ESPN's Jeff Passan and Juan Arturo Recio reported at the time.
The victim's mother, Martha Vanessa Chevalier Almonte, was also found guilty of sexual trafficking her daughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to Passan and Recio.
Franco, who was recently charged with illegal possession of a handgun in relation to his November 10 San Juan de Maguana arrest during an altercation in a parking lot, was placed on the restricted list hours after being formally charged with sex crimes against a minor. The former No. 1 overall international prospect was initially placed on administrative leave for a second time in March 2024 ahead of the beginning of the 2024 MLB season, which had since been extended, amid multiple accusations of inappropriate relationships with underage girls dating back to last season.
Franco has been under investigation since July 10, 2023 after a 14-year-old girl from his native Dominican Republic filed a complaint about alleged sexual relations. Authorities in the Dominican Republic reportedly raided two homes linked to Franco on December 26, the New York Post reported at the time.
The Santo Domingo Prosecutor's Office for Children and Adolescents searched Franco's home in Villa Real, as well as one belonging to Franco's mother in Baní, according to the Dominican newspaper Listin Diario. Authorities initially confirmed that they were investigating the accusations made against Franco in late August.
A complaint against Franco was filed by a 17-year-old girl in his native Dominican Republic in July 2023, the Dominican newspaper Diario Libre reported on August 14, 2023. The report came after a Facebook post re-shared on X claimed Franco "was dating a 14 year old and she is exposing him after he didn't send her the hush money." Diario Libre specified that the underage girl who filed the complaint was not the girl mentioned in the social media posts.
The Rays initially placed Franco "on administrative leave until further notice" amid the allegations on August 22, 2023. The two sides had previously agreed to his placement on the restricted list on August 14, 2023.
Franco appeared to deny the allegations in a video shared on Instagram Live shortly after the allegations were reported. Franco's wife, Rachelly Paulino, his childhood sweetheart from the Dominican Republic, was identified publicly amid the allegations, according to the Daily Mail.
The couple has reportedly been married since 2021 and shares two sons. Franco signed an 11-year extension with the Rays in November 2011 after a breakout rookie season and was selected to the All-Star Game for the first time in 2023, hitting for a .281 average with 17 home runs and 58 RBIs in 442 at-bats.