IGNACIO Salas Concepcion, through attorney Janet King, has requested the Superior Court to dissolve or, in the alternative, modify the temporary restraining order issued on Nov. 8, 2021 as it applies to him.
Concepcion also requested the court to hold an evidentiary hearing regarding the motion.
In response, Associate Judge Teresa Kim-Tenorio issued an order disqualifying herself from the case, saying that her impartiality might be questioned. She asked the presiding judge to reassign the case to the other judges.
In her client’s motion, King said “protection orders are widely used as a legal intervention to reduce the risk of future harm by one person considered a threat to another. But they are also, unfortunately, easily abused.”
King said Concepcion has “to face false allegations of abuse and the ramifications that come along with them.”
“Here,” she added, “the ease of obtaining a domestic violence order of protection also hindered justice by not answering the question of whether any domestic violence even occurred. According to the clear language of the statute and case law, it did not.”
King said under the law, her client’s relationship with petitioners simply did not meet the standards necessary to fall within the protection offered to victims of domestic violence.
In addition, even if there was a statutory familial relationship, which there is not, King said her client disputes the allegations that led to the protective order.
King asked the court to allow her client to be fully heard with the assistance of counsel and be afforded the opportunity of examining the petitioners to test their credibility and determine the truthfulness of their allegations.
Late last year, the court granted temporary restraining order and one-year protective order against Rep. Vicente Castro Camacho, Ignacio “Ike” S. Concepcion, Fiel Reynaldo Ortiz, and Tiepo A. Nikiti.
The petitioner was Steve L. Koch, a master electrician at the Commonwealth Ports Authority.
Koch, with his wife and daughter, and through attorney Charity Hodson, asked the court to prevent the aforementioned individuals “from engaging in any further physical harm, threats, disturbance, harassment, blocking, and verbal abuse.”
According to the TRO issued by the court, “This order of protection shall continue in effect for a period of one year unless extended or dissolved by the court in writing and shall expire on November 8, 2022.”
The court directed Vicente Camacho, Fiel Reynaldo Ortiz, and Tiepo A. Nikiti not to “enter or be present at the Chinatown property including that residence of Ignacio S. Concepcion at any time for any reason whether or not invited by Ignacio S. Concepcion.”
The protective order, likewise, ordered all the respondents (Concepcion, Camacho, Ortiz, and Nikiti) to stay away at least 200 yards from the petitioners’ residence.
The Office of the Attorney General has accused Vicente C. Camacho and Tiepo A. Nikiti of assaulting Koch on Freedom Drive, Chinatown around 11 p.m. on Oct. 29, 2021.
The incident stemmed from a long-standing animosity between Koch and his brother-in-law, Concepcion, and took place near the homes of Koch and Concepcion, Variety learned.
