“Be reminded that the board made the decision for the denial, release and deportation based on the testimonial of the applicants, witness for/against, victim(s) and prosecutor,” said Chief Parole Officer Joseph Guerrero in an e-mail to Variety.
The application for parole by Sanito Estreda, not Estrera as earlier reported, 65, was denied.
He is serving time for sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree.
He was sentenced on March 26, 2009 to a 10-year jail term, all suspended except for six years. He has been an inmate since June 18, 2008.
Parole was conditionally granted to Loreto H. Rodriguez, 33, and Jin Ming Nan, 39.
They are to remain at the Corrections facility until such time that deportation arrangement with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are confirmed for their immediate departure from the CNMI, Guerrero said.
Granted parole were:
• Shawn C. Appleby, who was sentenced to 40 years imprisonment with a minimum of 10 years to be served. He was 16 when convicted of committing robbery-murder in 1997. The court sentenced Appleby to an additional one year of incarceration for escape.
• Sayuri Aldan Paulis, who was sentenced to three years imprisonment for vehicular homicide, all suspended except for 545 days, with credit for six days already served at Corrections. She started serving her term on Aug. 1, 2010.
• Bonifacio M. Camacho, who was sentenced to three years after he admitted committing marriage fraud in 2009. He was to be released on June 3, 2012.
• Jesus Mafnas Babauta, 33, who was sentenced to five years imprisonment, all suspended except for eight months with credit for time served.
Babauta pleaded guilty to forgery, and theft by unlawful taking.
According to Guerrero, “All inmates released on parole are under intensive supervision with stringent parole conditions that they must comply. Excluded are the two inmates for deportation who will be unsupervised.”
Guerrero explained that part of the pre-parole process is to serve notice to the victims.
“Out of the seven the only applicant whose victim/next of kin or family we could not locate is inmate Shawn C. Appleby. We check with all the concerned agencies for any forwarding address, but to no avail. A copy of the notice is therefore inserted to the case file for further reference and follow ups. It is an old case [14 plus years] and it was difficult to locate the whereabouts of the victim,” Guerrero said.
He added, “We encourage each victim to participate in the parole process because their statements are important. We ascertain that their safety as well as testimony is separate from the defendant and each one of them will not confront or see the defendant. We assure the victim as well as family of the victim that their safeties as well as testimony are strictly confidential if the victim is a minor and at all times the AG Victim’s Advocate is present during the hearing. Most of them submitted written testimony because for reason(s) of not wanting to revisit or reminded of what happened.”
