THE U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has affirmed Bonifacio “Boni” Sagana’s conviction, the denial of his motion for a new trial, and his sentence.
On July 19, 2023, a jury found Sagana guilty of conspiring with Bernadita Zata in producing a fraudulent CNMI driver’s license.
In December 2023, Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI sentenced Sagana to 24 months in prison.
After serving his sentence, Sagana will be placed on supervised release for three years. He will also perform 50 hours of community service in lieu of a fine at the direction of the U.S. Probation Office.
Citing “bad publicity,” Sagana, through his attorney, Richard Miller, asked the federal court for a new trial.
Miller said Sagana’s “Sixth Amendment right to trial by an impartial jury was violated by pervasive and false pretrial publicity, in this small community of the Northern Mariana Islands, that Mr. Sagana had fled Saipan before he could be arrested.”
Judge Manglona denied the motion for a new trial finding that the voir dire conducted in the case did not violate Sagana’s Sixth Amendment right to a trial by an impartial jury.
According to an online legal dictionary, voir dire (pronounced “vwahr deer”) is a process used to determine the admissibility of evidence or the suitability of a juror.
“Sagana has not met his burden to demonstrate the need for a new trial as the interest of justice does not require such. For these reasons, the court denies Sagana’s motion for a new trial,” the judge said.
Sagana, who is serving his sentence in Wisconsin, appealed his conviction, denial of a new trial and sentence.
Sufficient evidence
In an eight-page order Circuit Judges Sidney R. Thomas, Daniel Bress and Ana De Alba stated that “there was sufficient evidence to sustain the convictions.”
“Multiple witnesses testified that a valid immigration status is required to obtain a Northern Mariana Islands driver’s license. Sagana produced Zata’s license ‘without lawful authority’ because he forged her immigration document to falsely show that she had one of the immigration statuses required for a driver’s license when she did not have a valid status,” the circuit judges said.
There was also sufficient evidence that the production of the license affected interstate commerce, the circuit judges added.
“Here, the interstate commerce element is supported by substantial evidence because a driver’s license allows Zata to drive, and thus to affect interstate commerce by purchasing imported gasoline. After Sagana helped Zata renew her license, she used her license to drive and consequently purchased gasoline. That gasoline must have been imported, because all gasoline on the Northern Mariana Islands is imported. By buying imported gasoline, she either participated directly in interstate commerce, or at the very least indirectly increased the demand for imported gasoline, and thus her actions had at least a ‘modest and indirect’ effect on interstate commerce,” the circuit judges said.
They said the district court did not err in denying the motion for a new trial based on pretrial publicity.
“Here, the voir dire was adequate, because the district court’s questioning did enough to determine that potential jurors were unbiased by media coverage,” the circuit judges said.
They added, “The trial judge asked each jury panel separately, and followed up with individual jurors who reported possible media exposure. And here, the trial judge even asked jurors about media exposure a second time after reviewing the indictment with them. Because the voir dire was adequate, it was not an abuse of discretion to deny the motion for a new trial.”
Regarding the appeal on the sentence, the circuit judges said, “The district court did not commit reversible error in applying a two-level ‘organizer’ sentencing enhancement.”
“Here, it was not an abuse of discretion to apply the ‘organizer’ enhancement, because Sagana coordinated the logistics of Zata’s participation in the crime. Sagana told Zata to meet him at the courthouse, and to bring payment and her expiring driver’s license. Sagana instructed Zata to wait for him while he was in the courthouse. He later instructed Zata to follow him to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, where Zata waited for her picture to be taken. That is coordinating Zata’s participation,” the circuit judges said.