In the face of an order from the Supreme Court, a Magistrate sent 19-year-old Abdiel Sandoval home on bail last month and all indications are that Sandoval will remain free on the streets until his trial. Sandoval is accused of attempted murder for slitting his underage girlfriend's throat and crippling her. As we reported on Friday, a San Ignacio Magistrate granted Sandoval bail on December 22nd, even as a Supreme Court judge denied him bail two months earlier on October 25th. Justice Arana turned down the bail request on the condition that he be tried during the January session of the Supreme Court. Sandoval's new attorney Michael Peyrefitte made the December application for bail and admits he knew nothing of the October order by Justice Arana. But Peyrefitte says to forget the legal technicalities, simply, Abdiel Sandoval is out on bail because the Prosecutor agreed to it.
Keith Swift,
Your client Abdiel Sandoval is out on bail. Should he be?
Michael Peyrefitte, Sandoval's Attorney
"Yes he should be. Miss Arana denied bail and only heard the matter for the purposes of bail but the entire matter itself is not before Justice
Arana and the minute the matter came back to Magistrate Stewart, she had the authority, as the Magistrate holding the case, to grant bail. When we went to court on the 22nd of December the judge asked the prosecution their position on bail. The prosecution got up and said your honor we are not objecting to bail and it was more on the strength of that that the Magistrate granted bail more than anything else because if the prosecution is not objecting to the bail, and the offender is asking for the bail, then the Magistrate can grant bail notwithstanding that bail was denied in the Supreme Court."
Keith Swift,
If you had known about the order from Justice Arana, would you still have applied for bail on December 22nd?
Michael Peyrefitte,
"I would still have asked for bail because at that point it's still left to the prosecution to see if they want to object to bail. By Mr. Sandoval getting bail, it doesn't mean that he is freed of all charges; it just simply means that he doesn't have to be in prison until his trial comes on. But his trial will come on; he will have his day in court. If Mr. Sandoval, and I am not only saying this as an attorney, but as an officer of the court, if I know that Mr. Sandoval interferes with the virtual complainant, I will report it to the court personally and I will see to it that he goes back to prison."
A Senior Crown Cousel told us on Friday that they would explore ways of settling the situation. We note that the prosecutor who agreed to the bail is a police prosecutor and not a crown counsel. No one at the DPP's Office was available for comment today. Tracy Donis was attacked the first weekend in September. She is bedridden, had to drop out of school, and doctors say she will never walk again.
