U.S. Marine Convicted of Rape To Stay In Philippine Jail
Makati City regional trial court Judge Benjamin Pozon on Wednesday ruled that convicted U.S. Marine Daniel Smith will stay at the Makati City Jail after he denied his petition to be returned to the custody of the U.S. embassy.
Smith's lawyer Jose Justiniano said they were still studying their next options whether to go to the Court of Appeals to file a petition for certiorari or a petition for habeas corpus.
Pozon was the same judge who handed Smith up to 40 years imprisonment after finding him guilty of raping a Filipina last year at the Subic Bay Freeport, a former U.S. military facility in Olongapo City, Philippines.
In the ruling, Pozon committed Smith to be held at the Makati jail instead of being placed under the U.S. custody until all legal remedies have been exhausted for his conviction.
A Visiting Forces Agreement between the Philippines and the U.S. allows military exercises between the two countries and custody of erring personnel until the completion of judicial process.
Smith was part of a U.S. contingent based in Okinawa-Japan, which conducted war games in the Philippines last year.
His three other co-accused and fellow Marines, Lance Corporals Keith Silkwood and Dominic Duplantis and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier, had been acquitted and had since been shipped to a U.S. base in Okinawa, Japan.
Smith's lawyer Jose Justiniano said they were still studying their next options whether to go to the Court of Appeals to file a petition for certiorari or a petition for habeas corpus.
Pozon was the same judge who handed Smith up to 40 years imprisonment after finding him guilty of raping a Filipina last year at the Subic Bay Freeport, a former U.S. military facility in Olongapo City, Philippines.
In the ruling, Pozon committed Smith to be held at the Makati jail instead of being placed under the U.S. custody until all legal remedies have been exhausted for his conviction.
A Visiting Forces Agreement between the Philippines and the U.S. allows military exercises between the two countries and custody of erring personnel until the completion of judicial process.
Smith was part of a U.S. contingent based in Okinawa-Japan, which conducted war games in the Philippines last year.
His three other co-accused and fellow Marines, Lance Corporals Keith Silkwood and Dominic Duplantis and Staff Sergeant Chad Carpentier, had been acquitted and had since been shipped to a U.S. base in Okinawa, Japan.
Komfie Manalo - All Headline News Correspondent
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
3:40 AM
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