|
By James
Konstantin Galvez, Reporter
The lawyers of
former governor Antonio Leviste of Batangas will try to block his
arraignment for murder before the Makati Regional Trial Court
Monday, saying a related motion before the Court of Appeals should
first be resolved.
If Makati RTC
Judge Elmo Alameda denies Leviste’s motion for deferment, he will
enter a not guilty plea, lawyer Henry Capela said.
“As much as
possible, we don’t want him to enter a plea. How can you enter a
plea to a charge that was railroaded? But if he does enter a plea,
it would be not guilty,” Capela said.
Leviste is
scheduled to be arraigned for the killing of his long-time associate
Rafael de las Alas on January 12 in Leviste’s office in Legazpi
Village in Makati.
Capela said
the Court of Appeals should decide first on Leviste’s motion for
Alameda and Senior State Prosecutor Emmanuel Velasco to inhibit
themselves from the case.
Last Friday
the appellate court dismissed Leviste’s bid to stop the
reinvestigation of the case, saying he failed to prove that the
prosecution was biased against him.
“The ruling
touched only on one aspect of the case against reinvestigation and
does not preclude us from filing a new motion,” Capela said.
Leviste’s
lead counsel, Manuel Singson, said they would file a supplemental
petition before the CA for a new injunction.
Alameda
refused to recuse himself from the hearing, saying he is capable of
presiding at an impartial hearing.
Four lawyers
will represent Leviste at the hearing: former justice undersecretary
Ramon Esguerra, Capela, Singson and Allan Gepty.
They will be
going up against Velasco, who had upgraded the charge against
Leviste from homicide to murder, and the de las Alas family’s
private counsel.
|
