Campbell’s mother recalls her daughter in testimony
Linda Campbell occasionally smiled, then tried to hold back the tears as she described her daughter Julia and how she had given up a promising career in journalism in the United States to come to the Philippines as a peace corps volunteer. Linda said she learned on April 11 that her daughter had been missing since April 8. Then, shortly before midnight on April 18, Geary received a phone call from Jon Sanders of the US Peace Corps in Washington D.C. relaying the news of Julia's death. "It was like someone had ripped my heart," said Linda, describing how she felt the day she got the news. Lawyer Reynaldo Agranzamendez, lead counsel for the prosecution, said he called on Linda to testify to show the gravity of the family's loss and how they suffered as a result of Julia's death should the court require Duntugan to indemnify them. Peace Corps Volunteer Julia Campbell, reported missing after hiking in Ifugao, was found dead April 18, 2007. Read more.
Teenager testifies he saw Duntugan just a few meters from where the 40-year-old Campbell was slain
A witness, who was one of the boys helping tourists go around the place, said he was playing cards with his friends when he saw Duntugan fleeing the place where Campbell’s body was later found in a shallow grave. The grave was just a few hundred meters below the Duntungans’ house where Campbell was last seen alive sipping softdrink she had bought from the suspect’s wife. Meanwhile, court sources said Duntugan’s lawyers have offered a plea bargain for the lesser offense of homicide, which under the Revised Penal Code carries a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment. Read more.
Plea-bargain offer rejected in Campbell murder case
The prosecution in the trial for murder of Juan Donald Duntugan, the accused in the killing last April 8 of US Peace Corps Volunteer Julia Campbell in the highland tourist town of Banaue, rejected last Tuesday a plea-bargain offer of the defense for conviction of the accused for the lower offense of homicide. Lead prosecution counsel Reynaldo U. Agrazamendez of the Baguio-based law firm of Agrazamendez, Liceralde, Gallardo and Associates rejected the plea-bargain offer of the defense on behalf of the family of the late Campbell.
Linda Martin Campbell, mother of the slain peace corps volunteer who was present during the hearing, confirmed the family’s rejection of the plea-bargain offer of the defense when she was asked for her opinion by Presiding Judge Ester Piscoso-Flor of Regional Trial Court’s Branch 34 at the Justice Hall here. Had the prosecution accepted the plea bargain offer the trial would have ended right then and there, and Judge Piscoso-Flor would have pronounced Duntugan guilty of homicide. The accused would have escaped the maximum penalty of life imprisonment and would be meted a 20-year imprisonment sentence. Read more.
Read more about the Julia Campbell murder case.
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