SPEAKER Edmund S. Villagomez has until 4 p.m. today, Thursday, March 17, to file an appearance in the matter of the impeachment of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres.
The presiding hearing officer, Sen. Karl King-Nabors, yesterday sent a notice to Villagomez, as House impeachment prosecutor, to file and enter an appearance in the impeachment trial on behalf of the House of Representatives, which on Jan. 12, 2022 voted 15 to 4 (not 5) with 1 abstention to impeach the governor on allegations of felonies of theft, corruption and neglect of duty. He has denied the charges. He will be removed from office if at least six of the nine senators vote for his conviction.
Filing and entering an appearance in the impeachment proceedings is an official notification to the Senate and other parties that an individual will be participating as House impeachment prosecutor.
Rule 7 of the recently adopted Senate Impeachment Rules states that the House speaker who authorized the impeachment inquiry shall serve as the impeachment prosecutor.
If the House speaker is unable to do so because of death or incapacity, or declines to serve as impeachment prosecutor by written notice to the Senate president detailing why s/he declines to serve as impeachment prosecutor, the chairperson of the House Impeachment Committee at the time the impeachment vote was passed would then serve as the impeachment prosecutor.
If the House Impeachment Committee chairperson is unable to serve because of death or incapacity, or declines to serve as impeachment prosecutor by written notice to the Senate president detailing why s/he declines to serve as impeachment prosecutor, then the Senate president shall select a House member to serve as impeachment prosecutor.
However, in the notice to file an appearance, Presiding Hearing Officer Sen. King-Nabors said if the House impeachment prosecutor fails to file and enter an appearance in the impeachment trial on or before the set time and date, the Senate president shall select a House member to serve as impeachment prosecutor.
The impeachment prosecutor shall be a member of the 22nd House of Representatives and may select staff to assist in prosecuting the Articles of Impeachment.
The impeachment prosecutor’s staff shall be limited to House legal counsel and/or other House employees.
The impeachment prosecutor shall be the only person responsible to present evidence, ask questions of witnesses, make motions, and address the Senate and/or committee.
A pre-hearing conference initially scheduled for Wednesday morning by the Senate special panel was rescheduled to 1:30 p.m. on Monday, March 21 in the Senate chamber.
Sen. Karl King-Nabors said the committee wanted to make sure that there was no ambiguity with regard to what was expected for this prehearing conference, and that notices were properly given to all parties.
“We wanted to clear up some things so the path moving forward was clearly defined and all parties are on the same page,” he said.
House Speaker Villagomez declined to comment.
