Philippine CA junks Smith plea for TRO (tags)
Manila-- The Court of Appeals on Tuesday junked rape convict Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith’s plea to be returned to United States custody. The court’s Special 16th Division denied Smith’s prayer for a temporary restraining order on Makati Regional Trial Court Judge Benjamin Pozon’s decision to keep him at the Makati City Jail, noting that his petition “precisely involves a determination of the regularity of the act of respondent judge… “We do not share with petitioner’s view and that a grave and irreparable injury would befall him pending determination of this petition,” the court ruled. “The long and short of it is that a full-blown trial has been held with all the rights of the accused accorded to him.”