By Gina Tabonares
Variety News Staff

U.S. Attorney for the Districts of Guam and NMI Lenny Rapadas was sued by a Taiwanese defendant who complained that his civil rights had been violated when he was not released pending a trial.
Rapadas was sued with Chief Marshal of Guam Joaquin L.G. Salas and Chief Probation Officer Frank Michael Cruz by Wen Yueh Lu, the captain of the fishing vessel—Marshalls 201—arrested last year for illegal fishing.
Lu was charged in a criminal case on Dec. 8, 2006 for failing to allow U.S. Coast Guard officials to board. The trial is set for February 2 and Lu made his initial appearance on Dec. 9 with Daniel Berman appearing as his counsel.
In a subsequent bail hearing, on Dec. 13, Atty. Mark Smith appeared with Atty. Berman and announced that he was appearing on behalf of Lu while Berman did not withdraw as counsel on the case.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office opposed the representation of Berman because he is also the lawyer for Marshalls 201 which is under forfeiture complaint.
On December 29, Lu through Atty. Smith inquired on the possibility of entering nolo contedere but this was not favored by the U.S. Attorney Office who advised that Lu would have to plead guilty to the charge.
This prompted Lu to file habeas corpus action against Rapadas et al.
While U.S. government lawyers insisted that a criminal defendant cannot be represented by a lawyer who is engaged in multiple representations which creates an actual conflict of interest, it explained that Lu failed to exhaust his judicial remedies relating to his conditions of release pending trial.
Atty. Karon Johnson stated in a reply that if the defendant disagreed with the release conditions imposed by the magistrate judge he should have appealed to the district court.
Johnson explained that Lu has a judicial remedy which is available to him and which he has failed to pursue.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office asked the court to dismiss the petition saying that the court has no jurisdiction over the issue.
Meanwhile, the court has scheduled that all motions to amend the pleadings on the Marshalls forfeiture case shall be filed on or before March 2, 2007.
The Discovery cutoff date is July 27, 2007 while expert discovery is due on Friday, August 3, 2007.
The preliminary pretrial conference is set for Nov. 2, 2007 at 10:30 a.m while the trial commences on Nov. 26, 2007.