ASSISTANT Public Defender Jean Pierre Nogues said his client may not be the one to blame for a two-vehicle collision that killed a man on Feb. 1, 2021.
Nogues’s client, Eduardo Fabia, 50, was the driver of a garbage truck that collided with a pick-up, killing one of its passengers and seriously injuring the other.
Fabia was charged with homicide by vehicle, traffic signal violations, speeding, and reckless driving.
Superior Court Associate Judge Wesley Bogdan is presiding over the jury trial that began Monday.
On Tuesday, Nogues said perhaps the driver of the Honda Ridgeline pick-up, Quin Manglona, was at fault and not Fabia.
“The homicide by vehicle statute in the CNMI says that it has to be determined that violation of the traffic code was the approximate cause of the death,” Nogues said. “If there is evidence that Manglona was violating sections of the traffic code, and the violation of those traffic codes was reckless, that would suggest that it is not my client who is guilty of reckless driving for homicide by vehicle, but actually the driver of the pick-up truck.”
Nogues said he was told by a Department of Public Safety traffic investigator that CNMI traffic law prohibits pick-up passengers from riding in the bed of the truck if there is space in the truck’s cab.
Based on photos put into evidence by the defense at the trial on Tuesday, the cab was completely empty, Nogues said.
He also submitted a photo of a phone on the driver’s side floor of the Honda Ridgeline taken after the accident and said that police did not question whether Manglona was on his phone while driving.
“DPS could have just as easily charged Manglona with the same charges as my client, like reckless driving, homicide by vehicle,” Nogues said.
The other passenger of the Honda Ridgeline, Rommel Irang, testified that he and the victim sat in the bed of the truck to “protect” or secure the generator that was being transported to the marina that day.
The trial will continue on Wednesday, May 25, at 9 a.m.
According to the Department of Public Safety, the two passengers of the pickup were riding in its bed and were thrown out of the vehicle during the collision. Both were rushed to the hospital where one was pronounced dead on arrival. The other passenger was treated and admitted for serious injuries.
The pickup passenger who died was Raju Miah while the other passenger, Rommel Irang, sustained serious injuries. The pickup’s driver/operator, Quin C. Manglona, was treated at the hospital and discharged.
Irang filed a separate civil complaint against Fabia and his employer, Artman Environment Corp., in Superior Court accusing them of reckless, careless and negligent driving. Irang is demanding damages.
A personal representative of Miah also sued Fabia and Artman for wrongful death and negligence, and is demanding damages.
Both civil complaints are pending before the court.
