Ampatuan defense lawyers want judge off murder case

Defense lawyers of massacre suspect Andal Ampatuan Jr., mayor of Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao, want Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes removed from the case due to her alleged bias against the accused and disregard of the rules of evidence.

"[The] judge has committed serious misconduct in disregarding simple evidentiary rules," lawyer Sigfrid Fortun said in a motion for recusation filed on Tuesday seeking to inhibit Quezon City Judge Jocelyn Solis Reyes from the murder case. "There is serious or gross misconduct when judicial acts complained of were corrupt or inspired by an intention to violate the law or were in persistent disregard of well-known legal rules," he added. Buluan, Maguindanao Vice-Mayor Ismael “Toto" Mangudadatu, who lost his wife and sisters in the mass slaughter, described the move as a delaying tactic. "Napaka-fair nga niya na judge eh (Reyes is a very fair judge). I don't think she will inhibit herself," said Mangudadatu, who is a witness in the multiple murder case. In seeking Reyes's inhibition, Fortun criticized her for repeatedly preventing the defense during the hearing last January 27 from asking questions supposedly meant to "highlight conflicting statements" of prosecution witness Mohammad Sangki. Sangki is a Sangguniang Bayan official in Datu Abdullah Sangki town in Maguindanao who said Ampatuan Jr. had carried out the massacre. "The Presiding Judge deprived the defense of a viable tool to refute the witness’ statements and to determine his predisposition to tell truths or falsities," the defense said. It also cited how the judge had ruled against the defense's attempts to question the credibility of Sangki, who is allegedly facing charges for the murder of a certain Hansa Kamal Jr. Mangudadatu's legal counsel, Nena Santos, said the judge was in fact "very strict and impartial." She said assigning another judge could disadvantage them since he or she would have to rely on the record of past hearings, having failed to see the demeanor of the witnesses that had testified in the case. She said the prosecution, which had not received a copy of the defense's latest motion, had been given 10 days to comment on the plea. Santos vowed to oppose the motion to exclude Reyes from the proceedings. Reyes earlier earned praises for accepting the Ampatuan murder case when it was re-raffled. The original judge who was supposed to handle the case, Judge Luisito Cortez, backed out due to security concerns. Hearing deferred Also on Wednesday, the judge deferred the resumption of the hearing on Ampatuan Jr.’s plea for bail after the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a resolution on Tuesday seeking to include 196 more individuals in the murder case. Fortun asked Reyes to move the next hearing to February 24 to give the lawyers of the newly indicted individuals a chance to "catch up." In a 78-page resolution, the DOJ sought the filing of murder charges against Andal Jr., his father and clan patriarch Andal Sr., as well as other clan members, policemen, soldiers and other individuals linked to the November 23 massacre in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao province. (See: DOJ pushes murder raps vs Andal Sr, 196 others) The hearing was canceled "to give a chance to the respective counsels of the accused to catch up with the proceedings," said Nena Santos, Mangudadatu's lawyer. Prosecution lawyers did not object, agreeing that lawyers of the accused others should also be able to cross-examine witnesses that had taken the stand in previous hearings. The prosecution said it wanted to prevent witnesses from being summoned to court over and over again. The court also gave the defense 10 days to comment on a motion to cite in contempt Ampatuan lawyer Philip Pantojan. During a press conference in Davao City last January 13, Pantojan allegedly accused prosecution witness Rasul Sangki of lying. He made the accusations on the day the witness testified against Ampatuan Jr. "That's direct contempt," Santos said. — HGS/NPA, GMANews.TV