HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Jurors in the trial of a woman accused of crashing a red Jeep into Tamuning restaurant Jerry Kitchen will be questioned about alleged misconduct.
On Monday afternoon in the Superior Court of Guam, a motion to interrogate witnesses in Nakita Aguon’s trial continued.
Aguon faces a misdemeanor charge of driving while impaired for allegedly driving a red Jeep into Jerry Kitchen in 2021. Her trial began last November but has had several delays, including now after it was brought to defense attorney David Lujan’s attention that a juror may have spoken to a third party about the case.
For the past three weeks, the motion to interrogate witnesses had been pending in the court, primarily because of the questioning of Patrick Indalecio, who was discovered to have made posts on social media that he had a friend who was a juror in Aguon’s trial.
Indalecio in his testimony denied making the posts, asserting his account had been hacked, before attorneys came to the conclusion that Indalecio may have perjured himself and was not credible. As a result, Indalecio was advised of his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and to consult an attorney before eventually getting on the stand and pleading the fifth last week.
Reporter
On Monday, Kandit News reporter Johnnie Rosario was called as a witness to testify because she had exchanged messages with Indalecio after he made several posts that he knew a juror, and that they were going to find Aguon guilty.
Lujan questioned Rosario first about the messages. Lujan made copies of the messages for Rosario’s, prosecutor Grant Olan’s and Judge Alberto Tolentino’s reference.
In her testimony, Rosario explained Indalecio confirmed his statements made in the social media posts that he had a friend on the jury and that they already decided she was guilty. When Rosario asked Indalecio, he did not disclose the name or names of the jurors.
The messages further showed Indalecio knew the jurors were not supposed to talk about the case.
Olan subsequently questioned Rosario if she knew for sure the person she communicated with was in fact Indalecio.
“You do know that there’s such a thing as hacking … and that it’s possible for people to hack into other people’s accounts. So how do you know that was indeed Mr. Indalecio?” Olan asked.
“I don’t,” Rosario responded.
Olan also asked Rosario if she had any communication with anyone else who was either on the jury or was a third party speaking with the jury. Rosario said that she did not.
Arguments
Following Rosario’s brief testimony, Lujan and Olan argued about what the next course of action should be regarding the issue.
Lujan suggested Indalecio be granted immunity so he can be questioned further about his alleged contact with the jury.
“I believe because Patrick has stated that he’s been in contact with a juror and that this juror has told him that they voted, and I believe that it’s in the interest of justice, especially when jurors are supposedly not listening to the court’s instructions,” Lujan said.
“We need to get to the bottom of this, and the only way that we can do it is for the court to grant him immunity,” Lujan added.
Olan, in response, argued Indalecio should not only not be granted immunity but that it was appropriate for the jurors to be questioned.
“The People’s position is that we have to accept whatever answer is given by the jurors on the basis that we don’t have hard firm evidence that there has been communication between jurors and Mr. Indalecio,” Olan said.
“Nothing is more important than the sanctity of a verdict. … I don’t see why the government should not want to join in this, Your Honor. The government should be the one fighting for this, not me,” Lujan said.
Following the arguments, Tolentino decided he wasn’t going to grant Indalecio immunity but rather he was going to call the jurors in to be questioned in a sealed proceeding. Additionally, Tolentino asked Olan and Lujan to come up with suggestions about how to go about questioning the jurors.
Kandit News reporter Johnnie Rosario testifies during a motion hearing in Nakita Aguon’s case in the Superior Court of Guam Monday, Dec. 4, 2023.
