A RECENTLY unsealed grand jury indictment charged Derik Camacho Reyes with assault on a prison guard, and possession of methamphetamine in prison.
Reyes is a repeat drug offender currently detained at the Department of Corrections.
At a hearing on May 24 before Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI, Reyes appeared in custody and, through court-appointed attorney David Banes, waived the reading of the charges against the defendant and the reading of his rights.
Reyes entered a plea of not guilty.
As required by Rule 5(f) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Judge Manglona ordered the U.S. government to produce all exculpatory evidence to the defendant pursuant to Brady v. Maryland and its progeny.
Not doing so in a timely manner may result in sanctions, including exclusion of evidence, adverse jury instructions, dismissal of charges and contempt proceedings, she said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Albert Flores Jr. appeared for the federal government.
Accepting the not-guilty plea of the defendant, Judge Manglona set his jury trial for July 26 at 10 a.m.
According to the redacted indictment against Reyes, he was incarcerated as a prisoner of the CNMI criminal justice system in the Maximum-Security section of Pod 4 at the local prison.
On Feb. 15, the indictment stated, Reyes assaulted and inflicted bodily injury on a Corrections officer who was responsible for guarding both CNMI prisoners and federal detainees in the Maximum-Security section of Pod 4 at Corrections.
Reyes, also on the same date, was found to be in possession of methamphetamine, the indictment added.
