Friday, July 18, 2008 Suspect asks judge to back off
TWO days after the suspected gunman of lawyer Richard Sison pleaded not guilty before the court, he asked the judge to refrain from handling the case.
Nemuel Sumabong, the man accused of gunning down the prominent lawyer, asked Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Soliver Peras to voluntarily inhibit himself from the case because of a friendship between the judge and Sison.
He filed the motion yesterday afternoon through his counsel, Atty. Wendell Quiban.
According to the motion, Peras is a colonel in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Army Reserve Command, where Sison used to hold the rank of a major.
Quiban mentioned having seen Peras wearing his Army Reservist uniform inside the Palace of Justice on occasion. This is an act “undoubtedly indicating his dedication and reverence to the Reserve Command,” Quiban said in his motion.
Both Sison and Peras had reportedly been active in Army Reserve Command programs and activities.
“Being brothers in the legal profession, it was not unlikely that (Peras and Sison) mingled during the activities… and such camaraderie would inevitably tend to create closeness like that of full-blood siblings,” he stated.
Quiban cited jurisprudence that requires “cold impartiality” from a judge hearing cases in court, especially cases of a criminal nature.
If reason is valid
He then asked for the case to be tried by another judge, hoping to prevent “biases in favor of the prosecution” and “prejudices against the accused.”
The motion for voluntary inhibition was filed in accordance with Rule 137, Section 1 of the Rules of Court, which allows a judge to disqualify himself from hearing a case if he finds a valid reason to do so.
If the motion is granted and executed, the case will be raffled off to another RTC branch.
Quiban previously withdrew his motion for reinvestigation, when Sumabong pleaded not guilty before Judge Peras last Tuesday, July 15.
National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) operatives arrested Sumabong near his home last June 10 because of the testimony of three witnesses who said they “clearly saw” the gunman.
But Sumabong, a 30-year-old security guard, wept and denied the murder charge. He then sought release from jail, saying that his arrest was warrantless and was not conducted in a hot pursuit operation, rendering it illegal.
The 52-year-old Sison, who was the lawyer of Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza, was killed last May 21 at the corner of V. Sotto St. and M.J. Cuenco Ave. in Barangay Tinago, Cebu City.
He was shot inside his Toyota Hilux while pausing at a stoplight.
According to the witnesses, two men on a motorcycle were tailing Sison. When the lawyer paused at the red traffic light, one of the riders got down and shot him through his window.
The gunman then boarded the motorcycle and he and his companion sped away. (KAB)
