A Muntinlupa court denied the appeal of the Department of Justice (DOJ) panel of prosecutors to reopen a drug case of former senator Leila de Lima after she was acquitted.
Last May 12, the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204 dismissed case No. 17-165 filed by the DOJ against De Lima and Ronnie Dayan in February 2017.The two were acquitted in the case, which accused them of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading allegedly done during her time as justice secretary.
In a decision dated July 6, Judge Alcantara ruled that “the Motion for Reconsideration filed by the prosecution is denied for lack of merit.” “The prosecution contends that the subsequent recantation of witness Ragos was not sufficient to vitiate his original testimony which was voluntarily and solemnly given on numerous occasions before Congress, the Senate, the media, and the Court-under oath, in the presence of a judge, subjected to extensive cross-examination, and corroborated by other prosecution witnesses,” the decision read.
According to the court, “In criminal cases, no rule is more settled than that a judgment of acquittal is immediately final and unappealable upon its promulgation, and that accordingly, the prosecution may not seek its review without placing the accused in double jeopardy. Such rule proceeds from the accused's constitutionally-enshrined right against prosecution if the same would place him under double jeopardy.
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