Saturday, September 29, 2007 Ampatuan pleads not guilty to Asistido killing By Rhodamae M. Hernandez
AFTER five long years, the accused in the killing of a young man at The Venue compound was finally arraigned Friday and he pleaded not guilty to the charge of homicide.
Mohammad Banarin Ampatuan, assisted by his legal counsels Philip Pantojan and Arturo Agudo, denied charges he killed Carlo Asistido during a shooting incident at around 2:30 a.m. on July 28, 2002.
The arraignment was rescheduled after Regional Trial Court Branch 16 presiding judge Emmanuel Carpio took a leave.
The Northern Mindanao Regional State Prosecutor's Office filed homicide charges against the accused, instead of murder, after the Department of Justice asked for a reinvestigation.
In a resolution, the regional state prosecutor's office ruled the main protagonists in the fight that led to the shooting incident that killed Asistido were two groups led by Ampatuan and one Junjun Paglas.
Asistido was but a companion of Paglas.
The fight broke out earlier that night in another place but was pacified.
The two groups, however, met again at around 2:30 a.m., this time at The Venue compound, with Ampatuan allegedly leading the attack on Paglas' group.
Witnesses identified the one who fired his gun as Ampatuan, who aimed his gun at Paglas but hit Asistido instead.
The resolution pointed out that based on the testimonies of witnesses, it was clear that Ampatuan's target was Paglas and that Asistido's death was unintentional, and cannot therefore qualify as murder.
It also noted that from witnesses' accounts, Asistido was not part of any of the two groups and, thus, can be classified as a spectator or bystander, rather than an active participant.
