PUERTO PLATA, Dominican Republic -- An appeals court in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday ordered a new trial for Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco , who was convicted earlier this year of sexually abusing a minor and had received a two-year suspended sentence. Tuesday’s ruling comes after Franco’s attorneys had pushed to have his conviction suspended and sentencing overturned, while prosecutors had been seeking a five-year sentence. The appeals court ruled in favor of Franco, ordering that a new panel of judges oversee the 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. Meanwhile, prosecutor José Martínez Montan, the district attorney for the province of Puerto

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