Court orders probe of Cornley assault case

MANILA, Philippines - A Quezon City court has ordered the investigation of a case filed against former Philippine Basketball Association import Jamelle Cornley for allegedly punching a policeman at a hotel in Quezon City last March.

Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 31 Judge Maria Gilda Pangilinan reconsidered her earlier order and granted Cornley’s appeal on the direct assault case filed against him, lawyer Lino Dumas said yesterday.

Court staff said the case has been returned to the office of the city prosecutor and will undergo preliminary investigation.

The direct assault case was different from the alarm and scandal charge filed against the basketball player in connection with the March 27 incident.

On June 11, Cornley waived the reading of the information on the alarm and scandal charge and entered a “not guilty” plea through his lawyer.

The pre-trial on the case was originally scheduled on Aug. 20, but it was reset to Oct. 1 due to the heavy downpour that resulted in the suspension of work in government offices.

Preliminary investigation

Dumas appealed the court’s earlier ruling that junked their request to return the case to the city prosecutor’s office and order a preliminary investigation on the charges. 

Cornley earlier said that he wanted “to avail his statutory right to a preliminary investigation as part of his fundamental right to due process.”

The case did not undergo preliminary investigation and was filed before the court following inquest proceedings on April 1.

Pangilinan, in her initial order, said the motion for preliminary investigation was filed late as the Rules of Court only allows respondents to ask for a probe within five days from the filing of the case in the court. The motion was filed on April 8.

The judge added that preliminary investigations are required only in cases that are punishable with imprisonment of at least four years, two months, and one day.

But in the motion for reconsideration, Dumas said they complied with the five-day rule even if the motion was filed seven days after the case was sent to the court.

He said the deadline, April 6, fell on a Saturday and that they filed the motion on the immediate working day after the deadline.

And while the alarm and scandal charge is punishable with less than four years of imprisonment, Dumas said the case is different in the direct assault case. He said his client may be imprisoned for four to six years if he is convicted on the charge of assaulting a police officer.

Drunken fit

Cornley was arrested on March 27 after punching PO2 Anselmo Lazatin of the Quezon City Police District, who responded to a scene at a hotel along Timog Avenue where the cager reportedly trashed computers and other equipment in a drunken fit.

The cager allegedly created trouble after discovering that his $1,500 was missing after checking in with three women.

During inquest proceedings, Prosecutor Leandro Raul Gonzales recommended the filing of the two charges against the former Rain or Shine import. Cornley, who spent five days in detention, was released on April 1 after posting P14,000 bail.