Supreme Courtroom Justice in Chamber, Affiliate Justice Jamesetta H. Wolokolie has positioned a right away keep order on the high-profile Capitol constructing arson case involving former Home Speaker, Cllr: Jonathan Fonati Koffa, colleagues, and several other others.
By Lincoln G. Peters
The keep order follows a petition from legal professionals in search of a writ of certiorari, a day after presiding Felony Courtroom ‘A” Decide Roosevelt Z. Willie denied the protection request to suppress proof submitted by the prosecution within the proceedings.
“By directive of Her Honor Jamesetta H. Wolokolie, Affiliate Justice presiding in Chambers, you’re hereby cited to a convention with Her Honor on Thursday, October 2, 2025, on the hour of three:00 p.m., in reference to the above captioned case. In the meantime, you’re ordered to stick with all additional proceedings and/or actions within the matter pending the end result of the convention. Form regards. Very actually yours, Cllr. Sam Mamalu, CLERK, SUPREME COURT,” the author concluded.
The writ of Certiorari, which is a Latin phrase that means “to be made sure,” is a discretionary writ from the next court docket ordering a decrease court docket to ship its case data for evaluation. It’s the major means by which a celebration can petition the Larger Courtroom to evaluation a decide’s ruling. On this case, the protection legal professionals are in search of evaluation of Decide Willie’s ruling within the movement to suppress the prosecution’s proof.
On Wednesday, September 24, 2025, Decide Willie acknowledged that, regardless of a medical report confirming the defendants’ declare of torture within the ongoing Capitol constructing arson trial, it was not adequate floor to grant the defendants’ request to suppress proof within the trial.
Decide Willie’s feedback are contained in his ruling on Wednesday, September 24, 2025, following the presentation of the defendants’ medical report as requested by protection legal professionals.
The decide argued that the inherent limitations and constraints of accessible diagnostic modalities throughout the current setting additionally contribute to the truth that the medical report has some constraints.
The ruling comes out on a movement to suppress proof within the ongoing trial as filed by defendants, suggesting that state safety makes use of brute power and torture strategies to power confessions from defendants.
Studying his ruling, Decide Willie stated that the court docket was hesitant to notice that Dr. Philip Zochonis Eire supplied a photographic account of a few of the defendants having scar wounds and sure diseases on their our bodies.
He opined that this argument is so as a result of Dr. Eire, in his personal report, acknowledged that, though the defendants’ total evaluation was according to the allegation, these findings may be brought on by different situations aside from torture.
“So, along with his admission that his findings have been hampered by the passage of time between the alleged incidents and the examination, which can have obscured or altered bodily findings, and in addition the inherent limitations of accessible diagnostic modalities inside our current setting, all contribute to the truth that the report has some constraints.” Decide Willie acknowledged.
Decide Willie disclosed that, primarily based on the allegation of torture and sodomy raised by the protection of their movement to suppress the proof, the court docket has the proclivity to disclaim the proof.
The decide dominated that the court docket was unable to find out the allegations of torture and sodomy made by defendants because the claims have been primarily based on medical examination and truth. Subsequently, the Courtroom mandated the AMI Expeditionary Healthcare to medically look at the stated people who acknowledged that the proof obtained from them was because of their being sodomized and tortured by safety officers. On the identical time, they have been detained and being investigated.
Subsequently, the decide acknowledged that the AMI Expeditionary Healthcare carried out the medical examination primarily based on the claims of sodomy and torture, and submitted a report by Dr. Philip Zochonis Eire, BSc, MD, MPH, MASI (Medical Endocrinology), MACP, FWACP, and FLCPS.
Following the studying of the report’s cowl letter verbatim in court docket, Decide Willie acknowledged that, primarily based on the content material of the masking letter simply learn, it’s troublesome to make an knowledgeable and authoritative determination relating to the report for 2 important causes.
Firstly, on the defendants strolling again on their claims of sodomy, the defendants, in line with the medical report, voluntarily retracted the declare of sexual abuse and sodomy throughout their medical examination. Subsequently, no medical examination ought to be carried out on these elements of their our bodies.
“The Courtroom says, and believes that what this presupposes is that, though they informed the Courtroom the proof ought to be suppressed as a result of they have been sodomized, this data is imaginary, as insinuated by them throughout their medical examination. Subsequently, it might be pointless to conduct any examination regarding sodomy.”
Secondly, the decide dominated that the admission of the Doctor in his report, when he acknowledged that the medical examination encountered sure “limitations and constraints”, which he talked about as: (i) the passage of time between the alleged incidents and the examinations, which can have obscured or altered bodily findings. (ii) Affected person revocations of consent for particular examinations (notably genital and anal assessments), and (iii) the inherent limitations of accessible diagnostic modalities inside our current setting might have contributed to outcomes as properly.
In accordance with the decide, the physicians then concluded that regardless of these constraints, they endeavored to supply a radical, neutral, and professionally grounded account of the medical proof earlier than him.
“WHEREFORE AND IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING, the Courtroom says, primarily based on the problems raised by the Defendants, the resistance thereto by the Prosecution, the legal guidelines cited herein, and the arguments put forth by the Events, the Movement to Suppress the Proof is hereby denied, and this case is ordered to proceed forthwith. The complete trial in these proceedings is hereby assigned for Friday, September 26, 2025, at 10:00 am immediate. All Events being current, right this moment’s minutes function Discover of Task. AND IT IS HEREBY SO ORDERED, MATTERS SUSPENDED!” Decide Willie dominated. -Edited by Othello B. Garblah.
