Shayne Villanueva
DEFENSE attorney Keith Chambers is opposing the prosecution’s request to change the trial date of the contempt of legislature case against his client, Shayne Villanueva.
Chambers asked the Superior Court to take “judicial notice of the fact that the trial for this matter has been set since April 4, 2024, as seen in the court’s minute order issued on that day.”
“Therefore, the Office of the Attorney General in general, and Assistant Attorney General James Kingman in particular, knew or should have known of the September 24, 2024, trial date 61 days before Mr. Kingman filed his off-island notice on June 4, 2024,” Chambers said.
He said his client “opposes moving the trial date forward to August because such an action would materially interfere with both Mr. Villanueva’s preparation for trial and several of the deadlines that the court set in the pretrial order.”
“Mr. Villanueva opposes moving the trial to October or any other later date because Mr. Villanueva is asserting his right to a speedy trial and the trial date was known or should have been known by the prosecution when Mr. Kingman submitted his off-island request,” Chambers added.
In a previous pretrial order, Presiding Judge Roberto T. Naraja noted that the prosecution and defense agreed and concurred with the bench trial date — Sept. 24 at 9 a.m.
A motion hearing is scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, July 23 at 9:30 a.m.
Alternate date
On July 18, Kingman requested the court for an alternate trial date.
“The Commonwealth does not need more time. It can be tried the last week of August, before I am off-island, or as soon as the week of October 11 when I return. I do not think that it should take more than a day,” Kingman stated in his motion, which included a declaration.
According to Kingman, “I was brought to the CNMI as a special prosecutor for a three-month contract starting in March 2023. My trip was extended after a new judge on that case was appointed and opposing counsel filed a flurry of motions. The judge refused to rule or set a trial. When I lost my mainland job and health insurance because of their delays, and the judge froze further work on that case while I waited, I was hired as an assistant attorney general to work on the myriad other corruption cases facing the Commonwealth.”
“Since then,” he added, “I have left the CNMI one time, for a training. I have been making myself as available for proceedings, hearings, and trials as possible.”
He said “at all stages of this and other prosecutions, I have extended every accommodation and professional respect to opposing counsel and permitted all possible steps for criminal defendants. There has never at any point been any mutual consideration given to me or my office by any member of the bar here.”
Canceled wedding
“My own wedding was canceled, since I concluded that the trials would be set for those dates and not moved,” he added. “I have missed three weddings since I have been here, including those of close family members. I have taken no vacation or personal leave of any kind.”
Kingman said his “scheduled travel in September is for two weddings, one for my partner’s sister in Texas and the other for close, lifelong friends in Mexico, and for medical treatment not available on the island. My notice was filed much earlier than notices are typically filed here. I notified the defense of my off-island notice and they refuse to accommodate this unbelievably basic request, to no one’s surprise.”
Kingman said the defense “in this case originally said that it would be October before they could be ready for the trial.”
Background
Villanueva is the owner of Roil Soil Marketing, which the administration of then-Gov. Ralph DLG Torres contracted to help implement the BOOST program in 2022. BOOST stands for “Building Optimism, Opportunities and Stability Together,” a $17 million federally funded program of the previous administration.
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. After the committee found him in contempt, 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.
