Three months after the catastrophic collapse of the Jet Set nightclub in Santo Domingo that claimed 236 lives and left over 80 people injured, a Dominican judicial official has greenlit a fresh round of specialized technical analysis as the legal process moves forward.
Raymundo Mejía, a judge sitting with the First Court of Instruction of the National District, issued the order for the new expert report under official order number 057-2026. The ruling partially grants a motion filed by the legal defense team representing Antonio Espaillat and Maribel Espaillat, who are facing proceedings related to the disaster during the case’s preliminary phase. In justifying the decision, the court emphasized that authorizing independent specialized studies is a critical step to uphold due process and guarantee equal legal standing for all parties involved in the case.
The scope of the new technical evaluation is broad, covering multiple layers of engineering and geological analysis to pinpoint what caused the structure to fail. Analysts will conduct material and structural examinations, including compressive strength testing of the building’s concrete, petrographic analysis to assess the mineral composition and quality of construction materials, corrosion testing and chemical evaluations of the site’s embedded reinforcing steel, and full geotechnical investigations to rule out or confirm underlying foundation failures. A specialized team of independent engineers has been appointed to complete the report, with a strict 30-business-day deadline to deliver their findings. The judge rejected the defense’s request for a longer timeline, citing the need to keep the proceedings moving forward in a timely manner for victims and their families.
Alongside the structural investigation, the court issued a second order requiring the full extraction of all digital data from a mobile phone owned by Carmen Burgos, who works as an assistant to Antonio Espaillat. The process will be carried out by the Dominican National Institute of Forensic Sciences, and must be conducted under the supervision of independent court-appointed experts. The judge did, however, reject one additional request from the defense: a motion to order new extraction of security camera footage from the area surrounding the nightclub. The request was ruled inadmissible on the grounds that prosecuting authorities had already fully processed and cataloged that evidence for the case, making additional extraction unnecessary.