The three were convicted of bribery, theft and wire fraud charges in April 2009.
They have appealed their conviction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Villagomez, 48, is serving his sentence of seven years and three months in Tucson, Arizona.
Mrs. Santos, 51, and her 49-year-old husband each received a sentence of six years and six months in prison.
She is an inmate in Dublin, California while her husband is in jail in Atwater, also in California.
The U.S. government is asking Northern District of Iowa Judge Mark W. Bennett to reschedule the Nov. 8 hearing “due to the unavailability of a key government witness.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric S. O’Malley, the prosecutor, told the court that then-Chief Judge Alex R. Munson will not be available to travel to Saipan “at any time or near” the Nov. 8 evidentiary hearing.
In his declaration, O’Malley said Munson “issued no such order” to close the courtroom to the public during the selection of the jury as claimed by the defendants.
O’Malley said Munson “offered to submit a declaration attesting that he gave no such order.”
According to O’Malley, “Because [the federal] court stands in a position to effectively reverse convictions duly entered by [12] members of the [jury], the matter is too important to submit as a ‘battle of affidavits.’ ”
O’Malley said “depriving the [U.S.] government of Judge Munson’s live testimony (not to mention the testimony of Marshals who worked the trial, but for whom it will be prohibitively expensive to return to Saipan), while allowing live testimony from defense witnesses, all of whom live in the CNMI, gives the defendants an unfair advantage.”
For these reasons, O’Malley is asking the court to continue the evidentiary hearing “to a date when Judge Munson can appear in person.”
“Should the court insist on proceeding with the hearings as scheduled [for Nov. 8],” O’Malley said, “the government will stipulate to a request that Judge Munson submit his declaration in lieu of testimony, but will do so while noting its objection.”
