Judge Paredes picked to hear John-John case
The raffle was done and it was Judge Meinrado Paredes, of Regional Trial Court-branch 13, who was assigned to handle the criminal case against former Cebu vice governor John Gregory “Johnjohn” Osmeña.
Personnel of the RTC-7 criminal records division yesterday afternoon endorsed the four-inch thick pile of documents to Paredes’ court to enable him to start evaluating the issues surrounding the case.
Osmeña was accused of protecting two Australians, Mike Cummings and Dirk Hultz, the accused importer and consignee respectively of the 1,500 kilos of pseudoephedrine, worth P3.9 billion, into the
Before hearing the main issue of the case, Paredes is expected to resolve first the motion of John-john asking the court to determine first if there was probable cause for his indictment for violating section 4 (5) of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.
Osmeña’s counsel, Edgar Gica, had earlier argued that there is no probable cause to charge John-john of allegedly protecting Cummings and Hultz, who are themselves facing criminal cases in the same branch 13 of Judge Paredes.
The cases against Cummings and Hultz are, however, not consolidated with that of the case filed against Osmeña.
Osmeña, through his counsel, has denied the allegations of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) that he connived with the two alleged drug smugglers.
He countered that the panel of prosecutors who investigated the case against him had committed grave abuse of discretion. The panel also intentionally deprived his right to due process when it filed the case in court without giving him in advance a copy of its resolution, he said.
Osmeña said the law and the rules granted him the right to be furnished with a copy of the resolution against him, and time to question the propriety of the action of his accusers.
With this argument, Osmeña asked for the suspension of the issuance of his arrest warrant against him. The son of then senator Sonny Osmena said the case was fabricated by his detractors to destroy him at that time he ran for governor of
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