ASSOCIATE Judges Wesley Bogdan, Teresa Kim-Tenorio and Kenneth Govendo on Wednesday recused themselves from handling the contempt and misconduct in public office case that the Office of the Attorney General has refiled against former Gov. Ralph DLG Torres.
In separate orders of recusal, Judges Bogdan, Kim-Tenorio and Govendo said after a review of the case, they must recuse themselves from handling the matter, citing the Commonwealth Code pertaining to disqualification of judges, specifically, the following provisions:
(a) A justice or judge of the Commonwealth shall disqualify himself or herself in any proceeding in which his or her impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
(b) A justice or judge shall also disqualify himself or herself in the following circumstances: (1) Where he or she has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party, or personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding; (2) Where in private practice he or she served as a lawyer in the matter in controversy, or a lawyer with whom he or she previously practiced law served during that association as lawyer concerning the matter, or the judge or such lawyer was or is a material witness concerning that matter; (3) Where he or she has served in governmental employment and in that capacity participated as counsel, adviser or material witness concerning the proceeding or expressed an opinion regarding the merits of the particular case in controversy; (4) He or she, individually or as a fiduciary, or his or her spouse or minor child residing in the household, has a financial interest in the subject matter in controversy or in a party to the proceeding, or any other interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding; (5) He or she, or his or her spouse, or a person within the second degree of relationship to either of them, or the spouse of such person:
(i) Is a party to the proceeding, or an officer, director, or trustee of a party;
(ii) Is acting as a lawyer in the proceeding;
(iii) Is known by the judge or justice to have an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding; or
(iv) To the knowledge of the judge or justice is likely to be a material witness in the proceeding.
The judges returned the case to Superior Court Presiding Judge Roberto C. Naraja for reassignment to another judge.
Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho earlier recused himself from presiding over the new case against Torres, saying that his wife Viola Alepuyo is one of the former governor’s attorneys,
The judges issued their respective self-recusal orders following Special Prosecutor James Kingman’s refiling of the contempt and misconduct in public office charge against Torres on Oct. 26, 2023.
Torres was summoned to appear before a judge on Dec. 18, 2023.
The original case against Torres was filed by the Office of the Attorney General on April 8, 2022. It alleged 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 case, which remains pending, also alleged one count of contempt for failure to appear in compliance with a legislative subpoena.
The former governor has denied the charges.
On Aug. 23, 2022, Judge Pro Tem Alberto Tolentino dismissed without prejudice the contempt charge against Torres. Without prejudice means that the charge can be refiled.
In his ruling, Judge Tolentino said evidence indicated that the prosecutor, J. Robert Glass Jr., was exposed to “privileged information regarding non-appearance to a legislative subpoena as charged in Count XIV — Contempt.”
