Accused in car dealer’s murder wants to be state witness

AN ALLEGED member of the Dominguez carjack gang who had also been linked to the murder of a car dealer has sought the permission of the court to allow him be a state witness.

Saying he was not “the most guilty” among the others accused of the murder, Alfred Mendiola is now asking the court to remove him from the list of the accused.

Judge Ma. Luisa Q. Padilla of Regional Trial Court Branch 215, however, said she has not yet received the pleading filed March 3.

The scheduled arraignment Tuesday of Raymond Dominguez, one of the alleged masterminds in the murder of car dealer Venson Evangelista in January, did not push through.

Padilla opted to reset the arraignment to March 22 since three motions on the case are still awaiting resolution in court.

“The arraignment will be reset to another date so all of the accused will be arraigned at the same time,” the judge said.

Brothers Roger and Raymond Dominguez were present during the hearing, together with their coaccused, Jason Miranda. Mendiola and Ferdinand Parulan, who are also on the list of accused were not present despite being served a subpoena.

The accused are facing car theft with homicide charges for the death of Evangelista who was abducted on Jan. 13 and whose body was later found in Cabanatuan City.

The court will also resolve Raymond’s request to be transferred to the Bulacan provincial jail and both Mendiola and Parulan’s motion for a reinvestigation.

In his motion, Mendiola said the Department of Justice’s Witness Protection Program had “provisionally admitted” him as state witness for a 90-day period, with a reevaluation after.

“It must be emphasized that it was Mendiola’s testimony that clinched the filing of the case against the principals. Without the testimony, no other direct evidence was available for the prosecution to prove the elements of the crime,” the motion read.

“Since my client was not individually responsible for the crime charged except by reason of conspiracy, it cannot be said then that Mendiola appears to be the most guilty,” said Mendiola’s lawyer Willie Rivera.