Ex-PBA import pleads not guilty to trashing hotel

MANILA, Philippines - Former Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) import Jamelle Cornley was arraigned yesterday for one of the charges filed in connection with reportedly trashing computers and other equipment at a hotel in Quezon City during a drunken fit last March.

Cornley waived the reading of the information on the alarm and scandal charge and entered a “not guilty” plea through lawyer Lino Dumas. He entered the plea before Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 31 Judge Maria Gilda Pangilinan.

Meanwhile, his arraignment for the direct assault charge – he allegedly attacked a police officer who responded to the scene – was deferred pending the resolution of the motion for reconsideration filed by his lawyer.

Following his arraignment, the former Rain or Shine import told reporters that he still wants to play for the PBA once his name is cleared.

He said he will not run away from the case and expressed confidence in the fairness of the Philippine judicial system.

Cornley failed to attend his arraignment on May 21 as he was out of the country for a basketball clinic.

Direct assault charge

Dumas is appealing the court’s earlier ruling that junked their request to return the case to the city prosecutor’s office and order a preliminary investigation on the charges.

The case did not undergo preliminary investigation and was filed before the court following inquest proceedings on April 1.

Pangilinan, in her order, said the motion for preliminary investigation was filed late as the Rules of Court only allow respondents to ask for a probe within five days from the filing of the case in the court. The motion was filed on April 8.

The judge added that preliminary investigations are required only in cases that are punishable with imprisonment of at least four years, two months, and one day.

But in his appeal, Dumas said they complied with the five-day rule even if the motion was filed seven days after the case was sent to the court.

He said the deadline, April 6, fell on a Saturday and that they filed the motion on the immediate working day after the said deadline.

And while the alarm and scandal charge is punishable with less than four years of imprisonment, Dumas said the case is different in the direct assault case.

He said his client may be imprisoned for four to six years in prison if he is convicted on the charge of assaulting a police officer.

The motion for reconsideration is set to be heard on June 21. The pre-trial is set on Aug. 20.