Dominican judges order trial of Espaillat brothers over Jet Set discotheque collapse

Judge Raymundo Mejía of the First Court of Instruction in the Distrito Nacional ordered a full trial against the Espaillat López brothers for the roof collapse at the Jet Set discotheque on 8 April 2025. The incident killed and injured dozens of patrons.

The judge classified the case as involuntary homicide, citing negligent conduct rather than intentional wrongdoing. Under the current Dominican penal code, the maximum sentence for this charge is about two years of correctional imprisonment.

Mejía upheld previous precautionary measures, ordering the seizure and mortgage of assets worth roughly 500 million pesos belonging to the defendants. He also noted that earlier warnings about structural problems had been ignored, though the owners claimed they were unaware of the risk. The newer, stricter penal provisions have not yet been applied to this case.