A MANILA court has cleared self-confessed drug dealer, Kerwin Espinosa (real name: Rolan E. Espinosa), of illegal firearms and explosives charges due to lack of evidence and a key witness’s recanting of his testimony that the supposed guns seized in a 2016 raid belonged to the accused.
In a ruling dated Sept. 4, a Manila Regional Trial Court said government prosecutors failed to present evidence that proved Mr. Espinosa’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt, noting that his family and he were abroad when their house in Albuera, Leyte was raided in August 2016.
Moreover, a key witness in the case — Marcelo Adorco, bodyguard of the late Albuera Mayor R. Espinosa who is the accused’s father — testified that the guns police claimed they found during the raid allegedly belonged to the mayor and were just hauled off to the house of the accused by police.
Mr. Espinosa was previously acquitted of two separate drug trafficking charges by courts in Makati City. — John Victor D. Ordoñez
