|
US marines in court for rape
28/04/2006 14:10 - (SA)
Manila - Four US marines appeared in a Philippine court for the first time on Friday to answer charges of raping a Filipino woman last year.
The judge earlier threw out a justice department motion to reduce charges against three of the four marines, keeping all of them detained as principal defendants in the case.
Justice secretary Raul Gonzales last week said he found no conspiracy surrounding the alleged rape of the 22-year-old woman on November 1 and said authorities should keep only one marine as the principal defendant - lance corporal Daniel Smith - who could face capital punishment, and the three others as accessories, who could face up to 20 years in prison.
But Judge Benjamin Pozon of the regional trial court in suburban Makati city said he could not allow the downgrading of the charges against the three marines "on the basis of the evidence not yet presented" to the court.
Pozon also said the move by the Gonzales "not only asks for the disregard of the requirements of due process but also tends to erode the court's independence."
Pozon's ruling came just hours before a scheduled arraignment of Smith, and his alleged co-conspirators - lance corporal Keith Silkwood, lance corporal Dominic Duplantis and staff sergeant Chad Carpentier.
"We are happy about that," said private prosecutor Evalyn Ursua, who opposed the justice department's motion to amend the charges against the marines.
- AP
|
News
