By Gina Tabonares
Variety News Staff

SUPERIOR Court Judge Arthur Barcinas denied a motion by a Department of Administration employee to dismiss the rape charges filed against him.
Marianito Bautista was recently released from home confinement and was allowed to return to work at the DOA office but the judge denied his motion to dismiss the criminal sexual conduct case.
Bautista was indicted on five charges of first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct and official misconduct in 2005.
On Aug. 15, 2006, Bautista’s attorney, Mike Phillips, filed a motion to dismiss the charges because of the government lawyer’s failure to present exculpatory evidence to a grand jury.
According to Phillips, the government prosecutor failed to present to a grand jury that the victim had been previously sexually molested by someone else, saying that it was exculpatory evidence.
Assistant Attorney General Lewis Littlepage, however, argued that dismissal is not warranted because the evidence at issue is not exculpatory.
In a three-page court order, Judge Barcinas stated that the evidence of other past incidents of sexual abuse against the victim does not show that the defendant did not commit the crimes for which he was charged.
Barcinas said it is not the type of evidence that must be presented to the grand jury because it does not negate the defendant’s guilt.
The court further ruled that the defendant failed to show how he has been prejudiced by the failure to present this information to the grand jury.
“Assuming that the evidence comports with the rules of evidence, defendant is not precluded from using it at trial as part of his defense, and the petit jury will weigh all of the evidence in the case to determine his guilt or innocence,” Judge Barcinas said in his order.
Bautista, who allegedly committed one of the acts at his office and used a government computer to view pornography, remains on strict supervision by a third-party custodian.