Chief Justice: Admission of error in Echegaray case was argument vs death denalty

Supreme Court Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban claimed Monday his admission that there was “judicial error" in handing down the death penalty on Leo Echagaray was only meant to stress his position against the death penalty. “I made that statement on Leo Echegaray’s case only to stress my reaction to Congress’ decision to abolish the death penalty law. We all know that once the death penalty is imposed, and the law is abolished, we can no longer bring back the dead," said Panganiban, GMA’s DZBB radio reported. Leo Echegaray became the first person to be executed when the death penalty was reimposed. Echegaray, executed by lethal injection in 1999, was convicted of raping a 10-year-old girl. Panganiban, interviewed at Malacañang Palace after the vin d'honneur marking Independence Day, was also emphatic he had no intention of reviving the “nightmares" of Echegaray’s victim. Panganiban over the weekend was quoted as saying that Supreme Court commited “judicial error" when it affirmed Echegaray’s death penalty conviction because the prosecution allegedly failed to present evidence proving he was the real father of “Baby" Echegaray. Echegaray, a 38-year-old house painter, was condemned to death for raping his 10-year-old stepdaughter. He had pleaded innocent to the charge. Panganiban noted claims of the victim’s mother that Echegaray was not the father of “Baby" because the convict was only her “lover." Panganiban refused to comment on Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr’s statement that government should pay P5 million to P10 million to the family of Echegaray as compensation for his “wrongful" death. Congress last week overwhelmingly voted to abolish the death penalty. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who certified as “urgent" both bills in the Senate and the House of Representatives, is expected to soon sign into law the abolition of the death penalty.-GMANews.TV