NEW TWIST IN PROBE: Suspect in Rodrigo slay cries 'torture' Pleads 'not guilty' when arraigned in court
Posted on June 8, 2004 - Filed Under News |
TAYUG—The lone suspect arrested in the brutal slaying of former San Nicolas Mayor Conrado Rodrigo, Jr. of San Nicolas pleaded not guilty to the charges of murder with the use of unlicensed firearm and violation of the Comelec gun ban and accused the police of torturing him to admit to the crime.
During his arraignment, Jonathan de Leon, 20, a native of barangay Karay, Nueva Era, Ilocos Norte, made a different claim from his statement to local mediamen few hours after the shooting where he admitted he was hired by two men from his village to go to Pangasinan “to earn money for a job” his contacts did not specify.
He was arraigned Wednesday at the sala of Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Ulysses Raciles Butuyan.
Represented by lawyer Rogelio Dancel of Urdaneta City, de Leon instead claimed that he was tortured by policemen of San Nicolas who banged his head on the wall and pointed a pistol to his temple minutes after his arrest.
The sudden appearance of Dancel for the accused further spawned speculations that de Leon was getting assistance from a certain family in Pangasinan.
The police in San Nicolas earlier tagged de Leon as a hired killer from whom an M-16 armalite rifle with magazine and 30 rounds of ammunitions and a Cal, 380 pistol with one magazine loaded with seven ammunitions were found.
Those who heard De Leon’s plea, among them the Rodrigos, said that the claim of torture was just normal for an arrested suspect. The Rodrigos insisted that the killing of the former mayor was politically motivated and linked their long time political nemesis to it.
The sala of Judge Butuyan was jampacked when during the pre-trial and arraignment of the accused. De Leon was brought to the court house under heavy guard by elements of the Regional Mobile Group and the local police
De Leon was arrested by the police led by Police Chief Rhode Espero inside a warehouse said to be owned by the family of Mayor-elect Leoncio Saldivar III with the help of a boy riding on a bicycle, who saw him running.
The boy and several others who will be presented as witnesses for the prosecution may be placed under the witness protection program to ensure their safety.
De Leon turned out positive of nitrate burns in both hands when paraffin-tested at the PNP Crime Laboratory in Urdaneta City, disputing his earlier claim to newsmen that he did not fire a gun.
Acknowledging that the warehouse from where the police arrested the suspect is owned by his family, Mayor-elect Saldivar called Rodrigo and the people of San Nicolas not to jump into conclusion, pointing out that this was no indication that his family had a hand in the slaying of Rodrigo.
He said their warehouse is open at all times so de Leon possibly took the opportunity, adding that their compound leads to the Ambayoan river where he could have planned to escape.
There are two other unnamed suspects in the shooting who allegedly escaped aboard a motorcycle and who opened fire to scare the crowd.
Tension is still high in San Nicolas today even as a slated victory party of the Saldivars last May 28 was put off in deference to former Mayor Rodrigo’s assassination.
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