JAMES Robert Kingman’s application for admission to the CNMI Bar without examination is deficient and does not comply with the applicable admission rules, the defense attorneys of former Gov. Ralph DLG Torres told the local Supreme Court.
“Mr. Kingman does not oppose Mr. Torres’ motion to reconsider his pro hac vice admission to the CNMI Bar. The Office of the Attorney General appears and opposes reconsideration on behalf of the Commonwealth and not the special prosecutor. Since it is Mr. Kingman, and not the Commonwealth, who possesses the pro hac vice status, his declining to oppose reconsideration strongly supports granting reconsideration and vacating the pro hac vice admission,” stated the defense attorneys.
Pro hac vice is when a court allows an attorney who is not licensed in a specific jurisdiction to participate in a particular case in that jurisdiction.
“To the extent that the Commonwealth’s opposition is considered by this court, the opposition establishes that the Commonwealth apparently takes the position that it should not be constrained by this court’s rules and jurisdiction. However, that is not how the CNMI judiciary handles matters. The Commonwealth, the Office of the Attorney General, and the special prosecutor are each bound by — and must comply with — the applicable rules of this court,” the defense attorneys said in response to the government’s opposition to their request to reconsider Kingman’s pro hac vice admission.
Torres’s attorneys — Viola Alepuyo, Victorino DLG Torres, Matthew Holley and Anthony Aguon — said “Pro Hac Vice is not the proper basis for Bar Admission of a Special Prosecutor.”
Citing NMI Supreme Court rules “for ethics matters or for other limited purposes,” the defense attorneys said the rules should also apply to a special prosecutor in a criminal case.
“Indeed, a special prosecutor for the criminal case against Mr. Torres is a prosecutor ‘for other limited purposes’ as used in Rule 73-3(c). Moreover, unlike the pro hac vice admission process, Rule 73-3(c) ensures a special prosecutor’s independence from the OAG since there is not a need for a special prosecutor appointed pursuant to Rule 73-3 to have a local counsel. This, in turn, precludes imputation of a local attorney’s conflicts or disqualifications to the special prosecutor pursuant to [Model Rules of Professional Conduct or] MRPC Rule 1.10. Lastly, based on this court’s analogy and reasoning in [In re Woodruff, 2014 MP 9], it seems impractical to have a different admission procedure for a special prosecutor depending upon whether it is an ethics case or a criminal case. This is so especially when the Attorney General can simply invoke NMI SUP. CT. R. 73-3(c) and request for the Judiciary to appoint a special prosecutor when one is necessary or needed.”
The former governor, through his defense team, is challenging the CNMI Supreme Court order admitting Kingman.
“The pro hac vice admission of James Robert Kingman to the CNMI Bar should be vacated because the application for his Pro Hac Vice admission is materially deficient,” according to the motion for reconsideration submitted to the local Supreme Court.
The Office of the Attorney General hired Kingman, a private attorney from Texas, to assist in the prosecution of the misconduct in public office case against former Gov. Torres relating to first class travel.
Chief Justice Alexandro Castro of the local Supreme Court on March 6, 2023, granted the application for pro hac vice of Kingman to act as a special prosecutor in Superior Court Case No. 22-0050, Commonwealth v. Ralph Anthony DLG Torres.
The high court also waived the $5,000 pro hac vice admission fee.
Kingman, whose pro hac vice admission will expire after a year, will work with the lead prosecutor, Chief Solicitor J. Robert Glass Jr.
Glass has asked the court to deny the defendant’s motion to reconsider the pro hac vice admission.
“Criminal defendants lack standing to challenge the selection of a prosecutor because they do not have a legally protected interest in choosing who prosecutes them,” he said.
According to Glass, “Defendant has not suffered any injury, nor would he suffer any injury based on the admission of an attorney to practice law within a specific case. The standing to contest becomes even more attenuated in the present circumstance where defendant is attempting to choose his prosecutor by challenging the admission of the prosecuting attorney.”
The Office of the Attorney General has charged the former governor with 12 counts of misconduct in public office and one count of theft relating to the issuance of airline tickets for business class, first class, or other premium class travel for himself and/or Diann T. Torres, his wife.
The AG’s office also alleged one count of contempt for failure to appear in compliance with a legislative subpoena.
The former governor has denied the charges.
