THE Office of the Attorney General has asked Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho to recuse himself from a rape case involving a 17-year-old defendant to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
Assistant Attorney General Samantha Vickery, in a motion to recuse/disqualify filed on Wednesday, stated that it is necessary “because avoidance of the appearance of impropriety is intended to preserve public confidence in the legal system.”
The defendant, Kenneth Thomas Blas Kaipat, was charged with three counts of sexual assault in the first degree, two counts of sexual assault in the second degree, aggravated assault and battery, assault with a dangerous weapon, strangulation, and burglary.
The prosecution said the incident happened at a San Vicente home on June 2, 2019.
“The Commonwealth has reason to believe that the defendant’s mother has a close personal relationship with Judge Camacho’s brother,” Vickery said.
“This is an extremely serious case that involves a number of defendant’s family members. Judge Camacho should recuse himself from this case, as a reasonable person with knowledge of all the facts might question his impartiality because of his close familial connection to the defendant,” she added.
According to the prosecutor, “There is a clear suggestion of bias given the manner in which this case has been removed from the normal processes of case flow in the CNMI.”
She said Judge Camacho removed the case from the usual flow of cases in the CNMI when he presided over the bail hearing on May 17, 2021 in place of the assigned bail judge for the morning and afternoon of May 17.
She added that the judge is “treating this case as if it were special in some way by changing the process by which cases move forward and bail is heard here in the CNMI. Further, it has been the general practice in the CNMI that judges who preside over the preliminary hearing are not subsequently assigned as trial judge.”
Judge Camacho presided over the preliminary hearing when this case was still in juvenile court in June 2020.
After this case was transferred to adult court and adult charges were filed, the case was assigned to Judge Camacho.
However, since he had already presided over the juvenile preliminary hearing with the same facts, he should recuse himself as trial judge in the adult case, Vickery said.
Judge Camacho is “scheduled to preside over a second, unnecessary second preliminary hearing in this case on May 21, after already hearing the first preliminary hearing while this case was in juvenile court,” she noted.
“Not only is this unnecessary, as Presiding Judge Roberto C. Naraja already found probable cause in his order waiving juvenile court jurisdiction, but Judge Camacho should also not be hearing a second preliminary hearing on the same facts,” Vickery said, adding that considering the totality of the circumstances, Judge Camacho has demonstrated clear bias in sexual assault cases.
“A reasonable person with knowledge of all the facts might question Judge Camacho’s ability to act impartially in sexual assault cases and he should therefore be disqualified from hearing any further matters in this very serious sexual assault case,” she added.
Kaipat is represented by attorney Brien Sers Nicholas.
Recently, Judge Camacho granted the request of the defense to reduce and modify bail from $250,000 to $50,000 after the defense put up a property bond.
The judge placed Kaipat on house arrest, and appointed his parents as third-party custodians.
