Thursday, June 26, 2008 Court stops trial of Leviste
A MAKATI court handling the murder trial of former Batangas governor Jose Antonio Leviste, who is accused of killing his aide, Rafael de Las Alas last year, has put an end to the presentation of prosecution evidence after Senior State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco failed to make it to Wednesday's hearing.
Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 150 Judge Elmo Alameda said the prosecution had waived its right to present further rebuttal evidence when it failed to appear in the hearing despite being properly notified of the time and date.
The court granted a motion by Leviste's lawyer, Henry Capela, to stop the prosecution from continuing his presentation of evidence.
It then gave the prosecution 10 days to file its formal offer of evidence and the defense five days to reply.
Capela invoked his client's right to a speedy trial as he said the witnesses Velasco had presented so far were "corroborative" in nature and generally improper at the rebuttal stage of the trial.
But Velasco said it was all a misunderstanding because he had thought the hearing was scheduled at 2 p.m. instead of 9 a.m.
He said he would ask Alameda to reconsider his order, and hoped that the court would reverse its ruling, which was made in open court.
Leviste was charged with murder for the killing of de Las Alas on January 12, 2007 in his office at the LPL Tower in Legaspi Village, Makati City. He had yielded to the police and confessed to the killing but claimed he did it in self-defense. (AH/Sunnex)
