By Gina Tabonares
Variety News Staff

RAYMOND Ignacio Duenas could stay in jail for 20 years or life, if convicted, due to his prior drug conviction in local court six years ago.
This was stated by the Office of the U.S. Attorney in its notice to the District Court of Guam seeking enhanced penalty against the 33-year-old defendant.
Duenas and his wife Lourdes Castro Duenas, 40, were charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and using and carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking.
On Dec. 29, 2000, Duenas was convicted in the Superior Court of Guam for possession of a schedule II controlled substance with intent to deliver, an offense that constitutes a “prior felony drug offense.”
If he gets convicted of the pending indictment, his minimum term of imprisonment should not be less than 20 years while the maximum would be life imprisonment.
The couple, who is also facing a number of burglary charges in the Superior Court of Guam, earlier pleaded guilty to the federal offenses through their lawyer Federal Public Defender John Gorman.
Judge Joaquin Manibusan set their trial for July 2 at 9:30 a.m. but the court needs to appoint first an attorney who will represent Raymond Duenas following Gorman’s withdrawal from the case.
Gorman filed a motion to withdraw last week due to conflict of interest.
Earlier last week, the court appointed Atty. Cynthia Ecube to represent Lourdes Duenas after her first lawyer, Richard Arens, withdrew from the case due also to conflict of interest.
The Duenases are now detained at the Hagatna detention facility and are also facing related charges, including multiple counts of burglary filed in the Superior Court of Guam.
Their residence on Y-Sengsong Road in Dededo was raided by agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration and members of the Guam Police Department who discovered a Ziploc bag with approximately 76 grams of methamphetamine otherwise known as “ice.”
The indictment record states that Raymond Duenas was in possession of methamphetamine. And with intent to distribute the illegal substance, he was carrying and using a Ruger pistol and a 9 mm caliber.