A Dominican judge ruled Monday that Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco is criminally responsible for the sexual and psychological abuse of a minor, and simultaneously granted him a judicial pardon that means he will serve no sentence for it.
The decision came from a three-judge panel in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic on May 25, 2026, and Judge José Antonio Núñez acknowledged directly in his ruling that the outcome requires explanation.
“It seems contradictory to declare criminal responsibility and at the same time exempt him from punishment,” Judge Núñez said. “The court has granted Wander Franco a judicial pardon due to the particular circumstances that made him a material victim, but not a legal one.”
The particular circumstances the court weighed are specific and significant. The minor’s mother was also on trial and received a far different outcome, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually trafficking her own daughter.
The court found that Franco had been the victim of extortion and blackmail by the mother as part of the arrangement, and used that finding to justify the judicial pardon despite also finding him criminally responsible for the abuse itself.
Major League Baseball, which has had Franco on its restricted list since July 2024 when he was formally charged, said it was aware of the verdict and would “conclude our investigation at the appropriate time.”
The Tampa Bay Rays said they would continue cooperating with MLB’s review under the league’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy. The full written sentence is expected on June 16.
The Case That Ended A Career
Wander Franco was 22 years old when he was among the most promising young shortstops in baseball.
He had signed an 11-year, $182 million contract extension with the Tampa Bay Rays in November 2021 at the age of 21, a franchise commitment to what the Rays believed was a generational talent.
He played through 2023, and on August 12 of that year he played his last major league game.
The following day, social media posts surfaced alleging that Franco had been involved in a relationship with a 14-year-old girl that had begun in December 2022 when he was 21 years old.
The Tampa Bay Rays placed him on administrative leave immediately. Dominican Republic authorities announced they were investigating.
The season ended and the 2024 season began with Franco still on administrative leave, still not playing, still not charged.
In January 2024, he was arrested in the Dominican Republic. In July 2024, Dominican prosecutors filed formal charges of sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of a minor and human trafficking against Franco, and simultaneously, the Rays moved him from administrative leave to the restricted list, which ended the pay he had been receiving during the administrative period.
Franco had been transferred thousands of dollars to the minor’s mother, prosecutors alleged, as part of the arrangement that allowed the relationship to continue.
He has not played professional baseball since August 12, 2023.
The First Trial, The Second Trial And Where Things Stand
Monday’s verdict is the outcome of a second trial, a detail that matters for understanding the specific outcome the court delivered.
The first trial concluded on June 26, 2025, when Franco was found guilty of sexual abuse of a minor and received a two-year suspended sentence. Prosecutors had sought five years.
The conviction at that first trial created its own complications, immigration experts consulted by The Athletic said at the time that anything short of full exoneration would make it extremely difficult for Franco to obtain a US visa and return to play Major League Baseball.
Monday’s ruling by the three-judge appeals panel in Puerto Plata supersedes that first outcome.
The new ruling finds Franco criminally responsible, not exonerated, but applies the judicial pardon that removes the sentence.
Whether that distinction, criminally responsible but pardoned rather than convicted with a suspended sentence, makes any material difference to the visa situation is a question that immigration attorneys and MLB officials will be working through in the coming weeks and months.
The ruling can still be appealed. Franco’s attorney, Teodosio Jáquez, said the defense was waiting for the full written sentence before deciding on next steps. “When we have the full sentence in hand, we will give you more details. He was exempted from punishment and we think that’s fine, but we need to have the sentence in hand.”
The Judicial Pardon And What It Means
The judicial pardon that Judge Núñez applied is a specific legal mechanism in Dominican law that allows a court to find criminal responsibility while exempting the convicted person from punishment when the specific circumstances surrounding the crime warrant it.
It is not the same as an acquittal, Franco was not found innocent. It is not the same as a full conviction with a sentence, he will not serve prison time or a suspended sentence.
The judge’s stated rationale for applying the pardon centers on the role the minor’s mother played in the situation. The court found that she had sexually trafficked her own daughter, a finding for which she received a 10-year prison sentence.
The court also found that she had subjected Franco to extortion and blackmail as part of the arrangement, that Franco had been a victim of that conduct even while also being criminally responsible for the abuse of the minor.
The judge called this “logical and legal reasoning” and described Franco as a “material victim” of the mother’s conduct, meaning someone who suffered real harm as a result of her trafficking operation, while noting he was not a “legal victim” in the technical legal sense that would give him standing to prosecute her.
The specific legal reasoning that allows a court to find someone criminally responsible for abusing a child while also granting them a judicial pardon based on being simultaneously exploited by the child’s mother is not a concept that translates cleanly into American legal frameworks.
It is a feature of the Dominican legal system that reflects the specific complexity of cases in which multiple parties are found to have committed crimes of varying types against each other and against a third party, the minor at the center of this case.
What MLB Does Next
Major League Baseball has been conducting its own investigation under the league’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy throughout the Dominican legal proceedings.
The league’s process is separate from the criminal trial and operates under a different standard, the Commissioner can impose discipline on players under the policy without requiring a criminal conviction and without being bound by the outcome of criminal proceedings.
The league said Monday that it would “conclude our investigation at the appropriate time,” language that suggests the MLB process is ongoing and that the Monday verdict, whatever its implications, has not concluded the league’s own evaluation.
The Commissioner’s office has suspended players under the domestic violence policy for varying lengths of time based on the specific findings of its own investigations. The outcome of that process for Franco will be a separate determination.
If MLB eventually clears Franco to play and if the visa issue can be navigated, both significant uncertainties, he would return to a Tampa Bay roster that currently carries his $182 million contract on its books.
He has not played in nearly three years. He was 22 when he played his last game. He would be 25 when he returns if a return happens at all.
The full written sentence from the Dominican court is expected on June 16.
Until then, the parties on all sides are waiting for the document that will give the ruling’s full legal reasoning, the reasoning that found a 22-year-old man criminally responsible for sexually and psychologically abusing a 14-year-old girl, and simultaneously decided that the specific circumstances of that crime warranted a judicial pardon that exempts him from any punishment for it.
