Bonifacio “Boni” Sagana walks out of the federal courthouse with his defense team after jurors found him guilty Wednesday afternoon.
AFTER deliberating for four hours, federal jurors on Wednesday afternoon found Bonifacio “Boni” Sagana guilty of conspiring with Bernadita Zata in producing a fake CNMI driver’s license.
In open court, each juror said they found Sagana guilty of conspiracy to unlawfully produce an identification document.
Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI thanked the jurors and discharged them from their service.
Judge Manglona, without objection from the parties, said Sagana will remain released.
The court had yet to schedule a sentencing date.
Richard Miller, the lead defense counsel for Sagana, said: “We respect the hard work that the jury did, and we will certainly be filing an appeal.”
Both the defense and prosecution rested their cases Wednesday morning.
The prosecution’s witnesses were Special Agent David West of Homeland Security Investigations, HSI Special Agent Fredric Jonas, former Deputy CNMI Marshal Eric Esteves, Bernadita Zata, Diosdado Garcia and Nora Ayuyu.
The defense called two witnesses: Joycie Estabillo and Adrian Ranin.
The jury trial started on July 17.
Following the parties’ closing arguments on Wednesday morning, Judge Manglona gave final instructions to the jury.
She told jurors that “the object of the conspiracy charged in count one of the indictment is unlawful production of an identification document….”
She said in order for a person to be found guilty of that charge, the federal government must prove each of the following elements beyond a reasonable doubt: “First, the defendant knowingly produced an identification document; second, the defendant produced the identification document without lawful authority; and third, the production of the identification document was in or affected interstate or foreign commerce.”
In his closing remarks, Miller told jurors: “You did not hear from anybody at CNMI [Bureau of Motor Vehicles], nobody…about what is the law for the department…when they can and can’t issue a driver’s license. You did not hear from anyone [about] the processing of applications… we did not hear from BMV about that. No one testified about CNMI law…. We don’t have testimony from any witness that my client…either took an I-94 [immigration form], gave an I-94, or saw Sagana hand someone an I-94…nothing, no one saw Sagana with an I-94. Finally we have not heard from anybody who could explain how Sagana created and altered an I-94…there was no evidence. You didn’t hear where Ms. Zata’s I-94 came from, and you didn’t hear who created her I-94; no testimony about that.”
For his part, Assistant U.S. Attorney Albert Flores Jr. said: “What is crystal clear, is the clear evidence from the witnesses, what they said. Ms. Zata said, ‘I paid Sagana to help get a license because I did not have [immigration] status.’ There is no mistake about that — that is the crime. The crime that Sagana is guilty of conspiring with Ms. Zata, and she has given clear testimony about that in detail. Diosdado Garcia’s testimony, same thing…it is crystal clear. ‘I paid Sagana in 2014, I paid Sagana in 2017 to get a license.’ He was clear about that. Nora Ayuyu, crystal clear. ‘Sagana came to my house.’ Sagana said, ‘tell Bernadita don’t talk.’ It was crystal clear,” the prosecutor added.
“Last thing I’m going to say is this: you didn’t hear from an expert. We did not bring an expert to talk to you. Why? Because this case is simple. We didn’t need an expert to explain to you that the computers used to make the fraudulent 1-94s were not found in Sagana’s house. The computers used to make those I-94s were somewhere else. Sagana made them somewhere else. The crime is that he agreed to help Ms. Zata at BMV by submitting a driver’s license application. You don’t need an expert to tell you that you have to have immigration status to get a license,” Flores said.
Sagana was charged with conspiring with Bernadita Zata to violate 18 U.S.C. § 15 1028(a)(1) or conspiracy to unlawfully produce an identification document.
