Regional Trial Court Branch 58 Judge Gabriel Ingles yesterday ordered the release from jail of a shoemaker in Carcar after he acquitted him from a charge of marijuana possession.
Ingles ruled that the 30 grams of dried marijuana leaves that were reportedly seized from Florencio Servano could not be used as evidence against him because they were placed inside a cloth bag that could not be seen from outside.
Ingles also found out that the police officers who testified against Servano lied when they claimed that the dried marijuana leaves were scattered on the floor when the accused accidentally dropped the bag.
The policemen also failed to present the cloth bag, but instead presented to the court a plastic bag that they said was used by the accused to wrap the prohibited leaves.
Before his arrest, Servano had a misunderstanding with Florentino Parami, the owner of the room he was renting, that prompted him to leave the place.
While Servano was packing his clothes, Parami called up the barangay tanods and policemen. SPO1s Meliton Agadier and Rolando Navales claimed that they saw the marijuana leaves scatter the floor from the bag of the accused.
But during cross-examination by the defense, the policemen retracted their testimonies and clarified that they have discovered the dried marijuana leaves after they opened the cloth bag.
“Said items could not have seized in plain view precisely because the police had to open it and transfer the same to a plastic pack in order to discover that such were packs of marijuana. This might also explain why the sando bag was not even presented in court by the prosecution,” Ingles ruled. — Rene U. Borromeo/LPM