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DOJ Vows to Pursue Extradition case of Strunk
November 14, 2003
The Department of Justice (DOJ) today said it will exhaust all legal remedies in pursuing the extradition case against Mr. Rod Lawrence Strunk, principal suspect in the murder of veteran actress Nida Blanca two years ago, after the US court dismissed the request for extradition of Strunk by the Philippine government the other day.
"We have yet to receive the official copy of the decision of Sacramento Country District Judge Gregory Hollows," Justice Undersecretary Merceditas Gutierrez said.
The undersecretary said she has discussed possible legal remedies in pursuing the case with US Justice attaché to the Philippines Mr. Jeff Cole and those available may be to refile the extradition case or to appeal the decision of the court.
Gutierrez denied accusations made by Kaye Torres, daughter of the slain actress, that the evidence presented to the court were insufficient.
"The evidence we presented to the US DOJ and before the US court were the same with what we presented in our local court," Undersecretary Gutierrez said. "These were the evidence that was the basis for the warrant of arrest issued against Mr. Strunk."
The DOJ has filed murder charges before the Pasig Regional Trial Court against Strunk and his co-accused Philip Medel. Medel earlier accused Strunk, husband of slain actress Nida Blanca, as the mastermind in the killing of the actress on November 7, 2001 but he later retracted this statement.
Strunk went back to California, USA last January to visit his ailing mother after his lawyer filed an undertaking for his return to the Philippines. He was under provisional arrest in the US last May upon request of the Philippine government.
Gutierrez also said, she will ask prosecutors to study the possible liability of Strunk's lawyer for not complying with her undertaking on the return of Strunk to the Philippines.
She also expressed hope that the DOJ will succeed in extraditing Strunk
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