HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A shortage of interpreters has delayed an arraignment hearing for a man accused in a fatal stabbing in Mangilao last month.
Isaac Gurtamag appeared Thursday in the Superior Court of Guam to answer to the charge of murder as a first-degree felony, with a special allegation of using a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony.
However, when Gurtamag’s name was called, his attorney, John Morrison, the deputy director of the Public Defender Service Corp., said he had been unable to speak with Gurtamag because he needed a Yapese interpreter.
“The situation here is that there is a shortage of Yapese interpreters on island right now, and it’s very difficult to find one that will go with us to the Department of Corrections in person,” said Morrison.
“There is one Yapese interpreter who has requested that we meet with clients via WhatsApp, which presents a whole other series of problems to get that into DOC and do it that way,” Morrison added.
As a result, Morrison explained to Magistrate Judge Benjamin Sison Jr. that he needed more time to find a Yapese interpreter to discuss Gurtamag’s case with him before entering a plea of guilty or not guilty to the charges.
Sison said he would reschedule the arraignment to Jan. 30.
During the hearing, which was held via Zoom, Gurtamag appeared from DOC while a Yapese interpreter also on Zoom translated the proceedings to Gurtamag.
Stabbing
Gurtamag’s charges stem from an investigation launched by the Guam Police Department on Dec. 23, 2023, when officers responded to an expired person call at a Mangilao residence.
According to court documents, police officers arrived to find a deceased man with a stab wound, later identified as Mike Tithin. The body was cold and rigor mortis had set in, police reported.
During the investigation, GPD officers met a witness who said Gurtamag was the last person to be with Tithin. Gurtamag was later located and interviewed, where he said he was the last one with Tithin at the Mangilao residence when Tithin became angry at Gurtamag. Gurtamag, in response, told Tihin to sleep it off, charging documents state.
The next day, when Gurtamag woke up, Tithin was gone, but a woman informed officers that Gurtamag said he and Tithin were in an argument when “Tithin threatened to shoot” Gurtamag, who allegedly, in response, “retrieved a knife to defend against Tithin’s threats,” the complaint stated.
The woman further stated she saw Gurtamag “carrying a long object, walking immediately after Tithin.”
“(The woman) also informed police that (the) defendant got into a vehicle and pursued Tithin. (The woman) indicated to police that (the) defendant did not know if he stabbed Tithin,” the complaint stated.
Officers later learned Tithin and Gurtamag were cousins, and that Tithin had damaged Gurtamag’s car in the past.
Isaac Gurtamag
