HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A man on trial for the alleged murder of Anthony Mendiola earlier this year called two witnesses to testify, which marked the end of the evidence portion of the trial.
On Friday morning, Nathan Jon Ojeda appeared in the Superior Court of Guam for his trial where he faces murder charges related to the shooting death of Mendiola on Jan. 4 in Hågat.
Throughout the past week since Ojeda’s trial began, he sat in silence along with the jury of 12 hearing the testimony of witnesses called by the Office of the Attorney General.
However on Friday morning, Ojeda and his defense counsel took their opportunity to call witnesses of their own to testify.
The first of the two witnesses called was Henry Simpson, who was Ojeda’s employer for several years up until the time of the shooting. Since being charged Ojeda has been held in prison.
Simpson testified Ojeda worked for him as a mechanic and described Ojeda as being a “good worker.”
“He was very analytical and when he couldn’t figure it out he was really good at YouTube to figure out mechanical problems,” said Simpson who added Ojeda worked full-time.
Simpson however also explained on the day of the shooting, Ojeda called him to let Simpson know Ojeda’s purple Jeep had been shot at.
Not knowing the circumstances of the incident, Simpson, who had helped Ojeda do work on the Jeep, stated he suggested Ojeda make a report to the police to ensure the vehicle could get fixed.
“It wasn’t a very long talk because I told him … to go to the police station right away and get a police report because I thought that somebody had driven by or somebody randomly shot at his Jeep and I wanted to make sure we had a police report so we could get the (Jeep) fixed,” said Simpson.
After Ojeda’s counsel Jocelyn Roden questioned Simpson, prosecutor Basil O’Mallan asked only a couple of questions on cross-examination regarding Ojeda’s Jeep.
In particular O’Mallan asked Simpson if he knew if Ojeda was the main person who drove the Jeep, to which Simpson responded, “Yes.”
Investigator
The second witness called to testify was the Public Defender Service Corporation’s Chief Investigator Robbie Tenorio Call, who assisted Roden and Ojeda’s co-counsel Christian Spotanski with Ojeda’s case.
Call’s testimony consisted of discussing photos he took of Ojeda’s Jeep following the shooting and when it was in the Guam Police Department’s custody.
The multiple photos shown to the jury during Call’s testimony showed the exterior of the vehicle, where bullet holes could be seen, as well as the inside of the car which Call testified was in disarray.
In terms of the bullet holes on the passenger door of the vehicle, Spotanski asked Call if anything stood out.
“The damage looked like the bullet entered the outside inwards towards the vehicle,” Call said. “The way it’s compressed onto the middle, it looks like it’s concaved in toward the metal opposed to the mushrooming out toward the exterior.”
After going over the photos, Spotanski attempted to ask Call about his investigation into Ojeda visiting his grandma’s house located on the same street where Mendiola was shot. However, O’Mallan objected on the grounds of hearsay despite Spotanski’s attempts to rephrase the question.
Eventually, Spotanski stopped his questioning, ending the defense’s case since O’Mallan elected to not cross-examine.
Afterwards, Presiding Judge Alberto Lamorena III explained to the jury the trial will not reconvene for closing arguments and jury instructions until Sept. 25 at 10 a.m.
Robbie Tenorio Call, an investigator with the Public Defender Service Corporation, was called as a witness on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, to testify in the murder trial for Nathan Jon Ojeda.
Henry Simpson testifies about being an employer to murder defendant, Nathan Jon Ojeda, who has been on trial for the past week in the Superior Court of Guam Friday, Sept. 15, 2023.
Nathan Jon Ojeda listens to testimony in the Superior Court of Guam Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, for his trial where he stands accused of shooting and killing Anthony Mendiola in Hågat on Jan. 4 this year.
