GIs in rape case refuse to submit blood samples
Four US marines on trial for the alleged rape of a 22-year-old Filipina refused on Thursday to submit blood samples that prosecutors believe would link at least one of them to the crime.
Prosecutors have asked the Makati Regional Trial Court branch 139 to compel Chad Carpentier, Daniel Smith, Keith Silkwood and Dominic Duplantis to submit blood samples for DNA testing.
Government lawyers said the tests would help identify DNA from samples from bodily fluids found in the woman’s underwear after the alleged sexual assault at Subic on November 1, 2005.
The woman has testified that Smith lured her out of a Subic bar after a night of heavy drinking and then raped her inside a van, cheered on by the three other marines.
The marines, who have pleaded not guilty to the charge of rape, face up to 40 years in jail if convicted. Smith maintains the sex was consensual.
The alleged crime occurred shortly after the defendants took part in a joint US-Philippine military exercise.
Smith’s Filipino lawyer Benjamin Formoso told the court Thursday that the rules of court do not compel the defendants to submit evidence unless prosecutors can prove first that it is relevant to the case.
Formoso said prosecutors must first show the judge "how the samples [of body fluids on the woman’s garments] were collected."
They must show "[the way] they were handled, the possibility of contamination of the samples, the procedure followed in analyzing the sample, whether the proper standards and procedures were followed in conducting the test and lastly the qualification of the analysts who conducted the test," the lawyer said.
"To have herein [the] accused submit blood samples would be a useless exercise and a waste of good blood," Enrico Uyehara, lawyer for Duplantis, told the court.
The court has yet to rule on the prosecution’s motion for DNA samples.
The DNA test results on the two pieces of evidence submitted earlier for the DNA examination at the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory do not prove anything, and chances are the evidence could have been tainted, the defense said.
Rodrigo, in cross-examining Senior Superintendent Francisco Supe and Senior Inspector Edmar de la Torre, both forensic DNA analysts of the crime laboratory, asked if it is possible that the complainant’s panties and a condom submitted to them for examination were contaminated.
The analysts said it was possible that contaminants, particularly DNA profiles from other individuals who had handled the evidence, could have contaminated the items.
The court will not hear the case Friday because the toxicologists scheduled to testify could not attend owing to conflicts of schedule.
The case has sparked anti-US street protests. Activists and nationalist groups have called on Manila to revoke a treaty that gives the US government jurisdiction over its troops who commit crimes here while on duty.
AFP and Jefferson Antiporda
ABS CBN
Prosecutors have asked the Makati Regional Trial Court branch 139 to compel Chad Carpentier, Daniel Smith, Keith Silkwood and Dominic Duplantis to submit blood samples for DNA testing.
Government lawyers said the tests would help identify DNA from samples from bodily fluids found in the woman’s underwear after the alleged sexual assault at Subic on November 1, 2005.
The woman has testified that Smith lured her out of a Subic bar after a night of heavy drinking and then raped her inside a van, cheered on by the three other marines.
The marines, who have pleaded not guilty to the charge of rape, face up to 40 years in jail if convicted. Smith maintains the sex was consensual.
The alleged crime occurred shortly after the defendants took part in a joint US-Philippine military exercise.
Smith’s Filipino lawyer Benjamin Formoso told the court Thursday that the rules of court do not compel the defendants to submit evidence unless prosecutors can prove first that it is relevant to the case.
Formoso said prosecutors must first show the judge "how the samples [of body fluids on the woman’s garments] were collected."
They must show "[the way] they were handled, the possibility of contamination of the samples, the procedure followed in analyzing the sample, whether the proper standards and procedures were followed in conducting the test and lastly the qualification of the analysts who conducted the test," the lawyer said.
"To have herein [the] accused submit blood samples would be a useless exercise and a waste of good blood," Enrico Uyehara, lawyer for Duplantis, told the court.
The court has yet to rule on the prosecution’s motion for DNA samples.
The DNA test results on the two pieces of evidence submitted earlier for the DNA examination at the Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory do not prove anything, and chances are the evidence could have been tainted, the defense said.
Rodrigo, in cross-examining Senior Superintendent Francisco Supe and Senior Inspector Edmar de la Torre, both forensic DNA analysts of the crime laboratory, asked if it is possible that the complainant’s panties and a condom submitted to them for examination were contaminated.
The analysts said it was possible that contaminants, particularly DNA profiles from other individuals who had handled the evidence, could have contaminated the items.
The court will not hear the case Friday because the toxicologists scheduled to testify could not attend owing to conflicts of schedule.
The case has sparked anti-US street protests. Activists and nationalist groups have called on Manila to revoke a treaty that gives the US government jurisdiction over its troops who commit crimes here while on duty.
AFP and Jefferson Antiporda
ABS CBN
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
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