Michael Ray lawyer to get Ping affidavit on spy case

A US district judge has allowed the lawyer of former police officer Michael Ray Aquino to travel to Manila and get the depositions of opposition senatorial candidate Panfilo Lacson and other officials in relation to the espionage case pending in New Jersey, US-based Asian Journal reported on Friday. Aquino had pleaded guilty to the lesser offense of possessing secret US documents as part of an opposition plot to undermine the government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. His April 16 sentencing was deferred to July 27 to enable his lawyer Mark Berman to go to the Philippines and secure evidence he needed by June 27. The Asian Journal said District Court Judge William Walls in Newark, New Jersey denied on April 11 Berman’s motion for discovery, seeking “the production of all documents relating to Aquino’s relationship with Senator Lacson, all statements of Aquino’s co-defendant Leandro Aragoncillo" and wanted to find out if the government is going “to show that [Aquino] acted at the behest of Senator Lacson at sentencing." On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that federal prosecutors in New Jersey are seeking the maximum of 10-year prison term for Aquino, a police colonel who was a known protégé of Lacson, former chief of the Philippine National Police under the presidency of Joseph Estrada. He fled to the United States to escape murder charges in 2001 and lived with his wife and son in Queens, N.Y. He took up and finished a nursing course there. In seeking the maximum term for Aquino, prosecutors said that the "serious disruption'' he caused to the American government outweighed any benefit he should receive for accepting responsibility in the conspiracy - a plot that involved the theft of classified national defense documents from the White House and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Berman earlier stated that Aquino should face less than four years in prison. It is unusual for a defendant who pleads guilty to get the maximum term. Aquino, 41, pleaded guilty in July in a deal that spared him a life term if convicted of espionage. After serving his prison term, he is likely to be deported. Prosecutors said Aragoncillo was recruited in 2000 by opposition forces, and began working with Aquino in early 2005. They were arrested in September 2005. The 97-page memo was filed April 16 in the US District Court in Newark. Such sentencing memos are generally not made public because they often contain information from grand jury proceedings, which are secret. But Judge Walls ordered the document released after Newark’s daily newspaper, The Star-Ledger, protested, asserting the case was of public importance. Walls, who was set to sentence Aquino and Aragoncillo on April 16 and 17, respectively, said it could be made public after removing national security information and the names of people and companies who have not been charged. As a result, blank spaces appear in several sentences. The memo included statements from Aquino’s fellow police officers Glen Dumlao and Cesar Mancao, which could incriminate Aquino in the Dacer-Corvito murders. The judge denied Aquino’s motion to produce documents that his lawyers threatened to “rake [ Aragoncillo] and the government over the coals" by calling Vice President Dick Cheney and former Vice President Al Gore and other government officials to testify regarding Aragoncillo “and his activities during the relevant time period," Asian Journal reported. After retiring from the Marines, Aragoncillo, 48, became a civilian employee at the FBI, working at Fort Monmouth Information Technology Center in New Jersey. He is a naturalized US citizen who was born in the Philippines. Aragoncillo pleaded guilty to transmitting national defense information to Aquino and other Philippine government officials. Aragoncillo used to work as a military aide to vice president Gore in 1999, and later to incumbent Vice President Cheney. He could face a prison term of 15 to 20 years and pay a fine of $250,000 for each count after pleading guilty on May 4 to one count of conspiracy to transmit national defense information and another count of transmitting national defense information. Aragoncillo admitted passing information to Aquino and Philippine opposition leaders who allegedly wanted to oust Arroyo. Recipients included former President Joseph Estrada, who was ousted in 2001; Lacson; and former House Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella, according to earlier court documents. Estrada and Lacson have acknowledged receiving information from Aquino or Aragoncillo, but deny any wrongdoing. - GMANews.TV