CHIEF Solicitor J. Robert Glass Jr. has asked Judge Pro Tempore Arthur Barcinas to issue a stay of his order disqualifying Assistant Attorney General James Kingman and the entire Office of the Attorney General, and a stay on all further case proceedings until the OAG’s appeal has been resolved by the CNMI Supreme Court.
In July, citing a “conflict of interest,” Judge Barcinas disqualified the OAG from prosecuting former Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, who was charged with misconduct in public office.
Judge Barcinas at the same time declined to appoint a new prosecutor. He said because the court “is unable to appoint the Office of the Public Auditor to prosecute in lieu of the OAG, the court instead defers to the executive branch to execute its prosecutorial authorities in the case.”
On Aug. 13, 2024, Glass filed an appeal, saying that Barcinas’ ruling invalidated the OAG’s constitutional duty as the CNMI’s sole prosecuting authority.
In his motion to stay, Glass said the “disqualification has important implications on the issue of the separation of powers.”
“This constitutional mandate regarding the Attorney General’s duty to prosecute violations of Commonwealth law raises a serious question regarding the separation of powers when the Judicial Branch disqualifies the entire office,” he added.
Judge Barcinas has scheduled a status conference for Oct. 14 at 10 a.m.
According to Glass, “Justice requires a stay. The upcoming status conference should be stayed as the court has disqualified the sole constitutional prosecuting authority. Should any other prosecutor who lacks authority attempt to appear, it would require even more litigation regarding the propriety of that individual or office appearing to prosecute a case. It is even less clear who even would be able to appear under the court’s order as the court ‘defer[red] to the executive branch.’ ”
Glass said the court “has seemingly overlooked that the purpose of House Legislative Initiative 17-2 was to elect the Attorney General and avoid political interference.”
“By taking the issue of prosecuting out of the hands of the elected Attorney General and the Office of the Attorney General, the Court has invited political interference in the prosecution because the ‘Executive Branch’ is political by nature,” Glass said.
“Because the Governor is political by nature, having the ‘Executive Branch’ choose a prosecutor outside of the Constitutional authority of the elected Attorney General raises questions regarding justice in this case and whether justice can be done when politics is given reign over the prosecution,” Glass added.
“As this court has taken such constitutional power away from the Attorney General to designate a prosecutor and has left such up to the ‘executive branch,’ the Order is in error and should be stayed along with the case pending appeal,” Glass said.
In December 2021, then-Governor Torres, a Republican, was found by a Democrat-Independent-led House Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee in contempt of a legislative subpoena for refusing to appear before the panel, which was investigating his public expenditures.
On April 8, 2022, the Office of the Attorney General charged the former governor with 12 counts of misconduct in public office and one count of theft relating to the issuance of airline tickets for business class, first class, or other premium class travel for himself and/or Diann T. Torres, his wife. The OAG also alleged one count of contempt for failure to appear in compliance with a legislative subpoena.
The former governor denied the charges.
