SUPERIOR Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho has voluntarily recused himself from hearing the case of 17-year-old Kenneth Thomas Blas Kaipat who was charged with sexual assault.
Judge Camacho has returned the case to Presiding Judge Roberto C. Naraja for reassignment to another judge.
Kaipat was charged with three counts of sexual assault in the first degree, two counts of sexual assault in the second degree, aggravated assault and battery, assault with a dangerous weapon, strangulation, and burglary.
In May, Judge Camacho found probable cause to charge Kaipat with the allegations.
Recently, Kaipat’s attorney, Brien Sers Nicholas, filed a motion seeking the recusal of Judge Camacho from the case.
Nicholas said he is seeking the recusal of the judge based on the “ex parte communications” that took place between the judge and Attorney General Edward Manibusan.”
According to Nicholas, “The appearance of Judge Camacho giving the Attorney General great deference in this case, all to the exclusion of the Defendant, puts [Judge] Camacho’s impartiality into question to the detriment of the defendant.”
An online legal dictionary defines ex parte as a Latin term meaning “by or for one party.” The term may refer to an attorney’s communication with a judge without notice to, and outside the presence of, the other parties.
The AG’s office through Chief Solicitor Robert Glass Jr., had also asked Judge Camacho to disqualify himself from the case.
Nicholas earlier asked the judge to find Chief Prosecutor John Bradley and Assistant Attorney General Samantha Vickery in contempt of court.
In his order on Tuesday, Judge Camacho stated that though “there is no legal conflict on the merits of the case [against Kaipat], to avoid the appearance of conflict in case I am called to testify as a witness on my communications re the allegations of criminal contempt [against] Mr. Bradley and Ms. Vickery…I voluntarily recuse so both the government and the defendant can have the [Kaipat] case heard on the merits and avoid the distraction of the collateral issue of allegations of criminal contempt [against] Mr. Bradley and Ms. Vickery.”
Joseph N. Camacho
