CA reverses acquittal in Jee Ick Joo slay; gives cop reclusion perpetua

The Court of Appeals (CA) reversed the acquittal of a police officer in the kidnapping and killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo in 2016 and instead sentenced the cop to reclusion perpetua, the Supreme Court announced Friday.

According to the SC, the CA Thirteenth  Division granted the petition of the government and sentenced  Superintendent Rafael Dumlao to reclusion perpetua without eligibility for parole.

Aside from this, he was sentenced to imprisonment for 30 to 35 years for carnapping.

He was also fined P350,000 in damages for kidnapping with homicide and  P225,000 in damages for kidnapping and serious illegal detention.

“A judgment of acquittal is usually final and cannot be appealed by the prosecution to avoid double jeopardy. However, there is an exception to this rule. An acquittal may be challenged without violating the  Constitutional prohibition on double jeopardy in cases where there is grave abuse of discretion,” the SC said.

“This is strictly limited to instances where there is a violation of the prosecution’s right to due process, such as being denied the opportunity to present evidence, when the trial is a sham, or when there is a mistrial that renders the judgment of acquittal void,” it added.

According to the SC, the government’s petition before the CA sought to nullify the joint decision of the Angeles Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 60  that acquitted Dumlao in June 2023.

The RTC had dismissed  Dumlao’s charges of kidnapping for ransom with homicide or kidnapping with homicide, kidnapping with serious illegal detention, and carnapping for failure of the prosecution to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Meanwhile, the court had found Senior Police Officer III Ricky Sta. Isabel and former NBI errand boy Jerry Omlang guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the special complex crime of kidnapping with homicide.

“In granting the petition, the CA found that the RTC gravely abused its discretion by gross misapprehension of facts when it rendered its joint decision,” the High Court said.

The SC said that the  appellate court found the proceedings before the trial court were a “sham” and “an apparent mockery of the judicial process.”

It said that the RTC’s ruling contracted the testimonies of the witnesses.

“The Court of Appeals found the RTC’s ruling patently conflicting and irreconcilable with the facts it discussed in its Joint Decision,” it said.

“It erred in brushing aside the circumstantial evidence by the prosecution, which is sufficient by itself to support a judgment of conviction and could have galvanized Dumlao’s culpability,”  the SC added. — DVM, GMA Integrated News