Santo Domingo.- Argenis Contreras will serve 20 years for the death of Yuniol Ramírez, after the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) rejected the cassation appeal filed by his defense against the sentence that confirmed the conviction for the crime that occurred in 2017.
With the high court’s decision, the sentence against Argenis Contreras González becomes final and must be served at the Najayo Men’s Correction and Rehabilitation Center (CCR), located in the San Cristóbal province. In addition, the convicted individual will have to cover the costs corresponding to the judicial proceedings.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office reported that it requested the Supreme Court to reject the appeal filed by the defense of the accused, who sought to reverse the decision that had ratified the sentence imposed against him.
Supreme Court upholds the conviction
The SCJ ruling upholds criminal judgment number 502-01-2025-SSEN-00181, issued on December 29, 2025, by the Third Chamber of the Criminal Court of Appeals of the National District.
That instance had previously rejected an appeal filed by Contreras’ lawyers against the sentence handed down in the first instance.
During the process before the Supreme Court, the Deputy Prosecutor Fadulia Rosa represented the Public Ministry and requested that the cassation be dismissed.
The representative of the prosecuting body maintained that the previous instances carried out an adequate assessment of the evidence used to establish the criminal liability of the convicted person.
Judges Francisco Antonio Jerez Mena, Nancy I. Salcedo Fernández, Fran Euclides Soto Sánchez, and Yorlin L. Vásquez Castro, members of the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, rejected the appeal.
Participation of the Public Ministry
Prosecutors from the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for the Prosecution of Administrative Corruption (Pepca) participated in the drafting of the response briefs and in the litigation related to the case file.
The judicial process included both the circumstances of the death of the lawyer and university professor and acts of corruption investigated at the Metropolitan Office of Bus Services (OMSA).
Contreras served as the head of the Department of Purchases and Contracting for that institution when the events occurred.
Several people were prosecuted and convicted within two files that were subsequently merged, related to the murder of Ramírez and the irregularities detected at the OMSA.
The murder of Yuniol Ramírez
Yuniol Ramírez Ferreras was a lawyer, a professor at the School of Law of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD), and president of the National Convergence of Lawyers (CONA).
His body was located in October 2017 in the Arroyo María ravine, located in Hato Nuevo, Manoguayabo, Santo Domingo Oeste.
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The body was tied with chains and padlocks to a concrete block, as established by the investigations carried out after his disappearance.
The Public Ministry attributed responsibility to Contreras for the kidnapping and subsequent death of the professor. During the criminal proceedings, he was found guilty of homicide and concealment of a corpse.
Contreras was captured in the United States
After the crime, Contreras left the Dominican Republic bound for the United States, where he was subsequently arrested.
Three years later he was handed over to the Dominican authorities to face the judicial process opened against him.
After exhausting the various stages of the case, including the appeal and subsequently the cassation, Argenis Contreras will serve 20 years for the death of Yuniol Ramírez as the sentence established by the courts has become final.
The rejection of the appeal by the Supreme Court closes this avenue of challenge against the sentence and maintains the provision for Contreras to serve the sentence at Najayo Hombres, in addition to the payment of the court costs established by the high court.
