Shayne Villanueva
SUPERIOR Court Presiding Judge Roberto C. Naraja has scheduled a hearing for July 8 at 2:30 p.m. on the three motions filed by Shayne Villanueva.
The judge on Thursday also directed the prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General James Robert Kingman, to file a response to the motions no later than July 1.
Villanueva, who is represented by attorney Keith Chambers, filed on May 29 the following motions:
“(1) Motion to Dismiss on the Right to Assert Fifth Amendment Privilege Against Self-Incrimination to all BOOST-Related Questions Posed by the Special Committee on Federal Assistance and Disaster-Related Funding and to the Particular Questions at Issue Here;
“(2) Motion to Dismiss on the Grounds that the Special Committee on Federal Assistance and Disaster-Related Funding Violated his Right to Counsel Under 1 CMC § 1303(a) During the Investigative Hearing; and,
“(3) Motion to Strike Certain Portions of the Information Pursuant to Rule 7(d) of the Commonwealth Rules of Criminal Procedure.”
Villanueva is the owner of Roil Soil Marketing, which the administration of then-Gov. Ralph DLG Torres contracted to help market and promote the $17 million federally funded Building Optimism, Opportunities and Stability Together or BOOST program in 2022.
According to the House Special Committee on Federal Assistance & Disaster-Related Funding, the documents it gathered indicated that Villanueva was paid $215,000 “at the very least,” by the previous administration for implementing the program.
On March 5, 2024, Villanueva appeared before the committee and invoked his Fifth Amendment right when asked questions about BOOST. The committee found him in contempt, and Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez transmitted to Attorney General Edward Manibusan a “certification of statement of contempt” pertaining to Villanueva.
On March 22, 2024, Villanueva self-surrendered at the Department of Corrections after an arrest warrant was issued against him for contempt. He posted a $1,000 bail for his release.
During an arraignment on April 2, 2024, Villanueva pled not guilty to the charge of contempt of Legislature.
In his motion to dismiss, Chambers said the Fifth Amendment’s privilege against self-incrimination applies when an individual is subpoenaed to testify before the Legislature. He cited Kastigar v. United States, 406 U.S. 441, 444 (1972), which, among other things, state: “The power to compel testimony [before Congress] is not absolute. There are a number of exemptions from the testimonial duty, the most important of which is the Fifth Amendment privilege against compulsory self-incrimination [….] It can be asserted in any proceeding, civil or criminal, administrative or judicial, investigatory or adjudicatory[.]”
Chambers said his client had the right “to assert his Fifth Amendment privilege, and [because] the Fifth Amendment privilege is applicable here, this Court should use its authority recognized by the United States Supreme Court … and dismiss the Information [against Villanueva] as a matter of law.”
