BECAUSE of a few unresolved pretrial issues before Judge Pro Tem Arthur Barcinas, the prosecution and defense agreed that moving the June 5 jury trial is the best way to move forward in the misconduct in office case filed by the Office of the Attorney General against former Gov. Ralph DLG Torres pertaining to first-class travel.
After a discussion during the pretrial hearing on Monday, and with the consent of the parties, Judge Barcinas vacated the jury trial set for June 5 but maintained the date for a conference hearing.
Torres was present at the hearing and was represented by attorneys Viola Alepuyo, Victorino DLG Torres, Matthew Holley, and Anthony Aguon.
Alepuyo noted that the defense team had filed several petitions and motions to disqualify the Attorney General’s Office and special prosecutor James Robert Kingman.
“We have pending motions,” she told the court. “We have pending petitions with the Department of Finance. We need for the court to schedule oral arguments for the motions. We also have a petition before the Supreme Court to reconsider the pro hac admission of the special prosecutor,” she added.
“I don’t think we can move forward until a decision has been made on whether Kingman is a lawful prosecutor,” Alepuyo said.
Kingman, for his part, said, “I have some concerns with the defendant’s representation as well. I don’t see that being resolved in time for the June 5th trial date.”
Kingman agreed to “vacate” the scheduled trial date. “We can use that existing date to try to resolve as much as we can, and set [a new] trial date,” he added.
Kingman has also filed a notice of objection to the appointment of Judge Barcinas while asking him to allow the prosecution to amend the information against Torres and re-include Count XIV, contempt, among the charges.
Kingman likewise requested to amend and include Counts XV-XLI in the information.
As to the notice of objection by Kingman, Judge Barcinas said he will issue an order “to solidify on record his thoughts on it.”
He also directed Kingman to file a motion regarding his objection to Judge Barcinas’s appointment to allow the defense to reply before the judge can rule on it.
“I want this to be fair, a fair process,” the judge said. “Maybe this issue should go back to the Supreme Court for their determination. The rules didn’t [state] where it should be filed, [and who could] resolve the objection…the SC appointed me to the [former governor’s separate] appeal case and subsequently appointed me to this criminal case, and it is a unique case. When they appointed me in this case, they were well aware of that co-existing case. I don’t want to waste their time and say do you really want to consider…. They have implied and considered when they made the appointment,” Judge Barcinas said.
Kingman objects to the appointment of Judge Barcinas because the judge is already serving justice pro tempore in Supreme Court No. 2022-SCC-007-CIV, Ralph DLG Torres v. House Standing Committee on Judiciary & Governmental Operations.
Kingman said, “It is not in the best interest of justice for a judge to serve simultaneously on two levels on the same legal issue in controversy.”
Besides Kingman, Chief Solicitor J. Robert Glass Jr. and Assistant Attorney General Steve Kessel appeared for the government during the pretrial hearing on Monday.
On April 8, 2022, the CNMI Office of the Attorney General filed a criminal case against the former governor, alleging 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 also alleged one count of contempt for failure to appear in compliance with a legislative subpoena.
The former governor has denied the charges.
