Supreme Court acquits convict found guilty of drug possession

THE SUPREME COURT (SC) has acquitted a convicted drug user, ruling his warrantless arrest and search as “unreasonable and unlawful.”

In an 11-page decision on Aug. 17, the First Division of the SC reversed the Court of Appeals’ (CA) May 20, 2013 decision affirming the March 23, 2009 decision of the Cebu City Regional Trial Court Branch 58 that found Gerrjan Manago as guilty beyond reasonable doubt for possession of 0.3852 grams of shabu.

The high court said the confiscated shabu should be rendered inadmissible in court as it was obtained through an unlawful search and seizure.

The case stemmed from a robbery-shootout on March 15, 2007 wherein armed robbers escaped in a motorcycle, as well as a red Toyota Corolla that was then traced to Mr. Manago.

The next day Mr. Manago, driving that vehicle, was stopped at a checkpoint in Sitio Panagdait, Cebu City, and told to step out of the car as police officers conducted a search that yielded the sachet of shabu.

The SC decision read in part: “In view of the finding that there was no lawful arrest in this case, the CA likewise erred in ruling that the incidental search on Manago’s vehicle and body was valid. In fact, the said search was made even before he was arrested and thus violated the cardinal rule on searches incidental to lawful arrests that there first be a lawful arrest before a search can be made.”

The Court said “routing inspections do not give police officers carte blanche (unconditional authority) to conduct warrantless searches in the absence of probable cause.”

“Since the confiscated shabu is very corpus delicti (concrete evidence) of the crime charged, Manago must necessarily be acquitted and exonerated from criminal liability,” the Court added.

The decision was penned by Justice Estela M. Perlas-Bernabe.

source:  Businessworld