“We respect the court’s ruling. Angel Santos’ sentencing is on June 7, 2011 and we will prepare Angel and his family to give support and perhaps written testimony to ask mercy from the court,” said Santos’s court-appointed defense attorney Joseph James Norita Camacho in an e-mail to this reporter.
Camacho added, “Remember that Angel was willing to testify against the three co-defendants who actually committed the sexual assault.”
The defense lawyer said Santos acted as the “lookout.”
According to Camacho, “Angel is very sorry and hopes that his willingness to testify against the three co-defendants will bring a small measure of justice to the victim and her family.”
Camacho said the court denied Santos’ motion to withdraw his guilty plea based upon a U.S. Supreme Court case that requires a showing of a “fair and just requirement” reason for a defendant to withdraw his or her guilty plea.
The court ruled that “such fair and just requirement could be but not limited to failure of the court to advise a defendant of the charges, or a defendant did not make a knowing, willing or voluntary guilty plea,” according to Camacho.
Assistant Attorney General Brian D. Gallagher, who is prosecuting the case, declined to comment since the matter is “an active case.”
In a statement he signed last month, Santos said, “After three months, I do not think the Office of the Attorney General will re-file the charges against the three other suspects. I do not think the plea agreement which contemplates my cooperation and testimony against the three other suspects will be fully considered because of the failure of the Office of the Attorney General to bring the charges against the three other suspects. I believe that the three other suspects were the most culpable and did the most damage and harm to the victim yet the Office of the Attorney General has not moved forward on re-filing the charges against the three other suspects. For the reasons above, I choose to withdraw my plea and set this case for jury trial.”
Gallagher recommended a 30-year jail term for Santos, all suspended except for the first 18 years.
The prosecutor wants Santos to serve the “full 15 years in prison, without the possibility of parole.”
Santos’ plea agreement caps the jail term to as low as 10 years and as high as 20 years, said Camacho.
Wiseman said Santos has been adjudicated guilty of conspiracy to commit sexual assault on Oct. 7, 2010.
On Dec. 29, 2010, Wiseman granted the motion to dismiss without prejudice the charges of kidnapping and raping a minor last June filed against Alfred P. Hocog, 18; Ivan Jones Castro, 33; and Joseph Cabrera Camacho Jr., 31, as moved by the prosecution.
They have denied the charges.
The AGO said it moved for the dismissal of the charges “due to newly discovered evidence that requires further evaluation” by the government.
