Michael Ray wins appeal in US court

Former police superintendent Michael Ray Aquino may soon be freed from prison after winning an appeal at a US Federal Appeals Court.

A report on abs-cbnnews.com yesterday said the appeal of Aquino, 42, who is currently serving a six-year prison term in McRae, Georgia after pleading guilty in 2006 to possessing classified documents he received from former US Marine Leandro Aragoncillo, was upheld by a three-judge panel of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Aragoncillo, who pleaded guilty to espionage, is currently serving a 10-year sentence in Texas.

The panel ordered a judge in Newark, New Jersey to re-sentence Aquino under more lenient guidelines, the report on abscbnnews.com stated.

When re-sentenced, Aquino faces 37 to 46 months, and he has already served 40 months including the time he was arrested in 2005 for overstaying in the US, it said.

Aquino’s lawyer, Mark Berman, said his client could be released if sentenced to time served, although he also faces deportation when this happens.

Meantime, the Philippine National Police (PNP) is monitoring developments in the case of Aquino.

“Of course we are interested in his case, but all we can do is to wait for the outcome of the case of Michael Ray in the US,” said a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The STAR tried to contact PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome but he could not be reached for comment.

Aquino left the Philippines when former President Joseph Estrada was ousted in January 2001.

Prior to this, he worked with then police chief and now Sen. Panfilo Lacson in an anti-kidnapping unit.

Aquino was also linked to the killing of PR man Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito, in 2000.