AP —
Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco was declared criminally responsible for the sexual and psychological abuse of a minor, but he will not serve a sentence for it, a Dominican judge ruled Monday.
Judge José Antonio Núñez, in his decision, considered that Franco had been the victim of extortion and blackmail by the minor’s mother, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually trafficking her daughter.
“It seems contradictory to declare criminal responsibility and at the same time exempt him from punishment. 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,” explained Núñez.
The judge justified the judicial pardon as a “logical and legal reasoning.”
