SC fires judge who downgraded rap vs accused in US Marine’s slay

The Supreme Court has dismissed from the judiciary for gross ignorance of the law the Makati City judge who downgraded the conviction of two men who killed US Marine Maj. George Anikow in 2012.

Voting unanimously, the 13 associate justices who took part in the deliberations also agreed to forfeit the retirement benefits of Judge Winlove Dumayas of Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 59, whose controversial July 2, 2014, decision on Anikow’s killing reportedly angered the US Embassy in Manila.

In ordering his dismissal from the service, the high tribunal sustained the recommendation of the Office of the Court Administrator that found Dumayas guilty of gross ignorance of the law and gross misconduct for sentencing Anikow’s attackers, Crispin dela Paz and Galicano Datu III, on a charge of homicide instead of murder, which carried a heavier penalty of life imprisonment.

Lighter sentence

The justices also questioned why Dumayas imposed a sentence of up to six years imprisonment only, which enabled Dela Paz and Datu seek probation.

In addition, the high court said Dumayas “inappropriately appreciated” the mitigating circumstances of self-defense and voluntary surrender when other physical evidence and footage of the incident showed that the accused should have been convicted of murder.

Anikow, a US Marine married to a US diplomat assigned in Manila, was killed after figuring in an altercation with four men at a security checkpoint near Bel-Air subdivision in Makati on Nov. 24, 2012.