After 5 years and 4 months, Former Police Sergeant Anthony Polonio is free tonight of the criminal charge of perjury after he was acquitted today before Justice Troadio Gonzalez.
Polonio was caught up in one of the most sensational cases in which he was accused of refusing to cooperate with the office of the DPP, in October 2007, businessman Chayben Abou-Nahara was acquitted of shooting Shawn Copius to death.
Viewers may remember in the manslaughter trial of Chayben Abou-Nahara, he was one of the 2 police officers were accused of perjury when they took the stand and told the court that they couldn't remember if they detained and process him. This forced the prosecution to concede that they didn't have Abou-Nahara on record as being the accused person.
The then DPP told 7News that these men purposefully tanked the case, but in Polonio's trial which started last week Wednesday, Justice Gonzalez listened to testimony presented by the witnesses for the prosecution and he wasn't convinced that their case against him was strong enough.
After Polonio's attorney, Simeon Sampson made a no-case submission last week Friday, Justice Gonzalez after an extensive overview of the trial during the weekend, came back to court to deliver his ruling. He delivered it today saying that while evidence shows a level of suspicion; it was not enough to prove that Polonio perjured himself back in 2007.
Therefore, he directed the jury of 9 to return a formal verdict of not guilty against Polonio, setting him free. And so with that, the case that outraged the public back in 2007 goes away quietly because the other accused officer passed away before he could be tried.
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