Naraja granted the motion of the Attorney General’s Office to dismiss the charge of possession and trafficking of “ice” against Yuhua Wang, 32, and Le Xiang Chen, also known as Old Man.
Naraja, in his written judgment on Aug. 18, 2010, noted that the AGO did not provide the following discovery as directed by the court: laboratory analysis of the alleged controlled substance seized during the control buy operation, and any information concerning the government’s informant.
The jury trial for Wang and Chen had been scheduled for Sept. 27, 2010.
Naraja ordered the immediate release of Wang and Chen.
According to the judge, the CNMI government “concede[d] that it failed to meet the discovery deadlines” set by the court.
“However, the government contends that these failures were inadvertent rather than flagrant and were not performed in bad faith,” Naraja said.
He noted that “the government claim[ed] it will only re-file the charges should the substances come back positive for methamphetamine.”
In the event the government re-files the charges at a later date, Naraja said a new pre-trial timeline will be set and Wang and Chen will have enough time to prepare a defense.
“A dismissal without prejudice poses little risk of prejudice to [Wang and Chen],” Naraja noted.
Although the government’s action do not rise to the level of flagrant misconduct that warrants dismissal with prejudice, Naraja said “the government’s carelessness and delay in providing discovery…are unacceptable.”
“Failure to provide requested discovery in a timely and diligent manner in the future may result in sanctions,” Naraja warned the CNMI government.
Naraja said the government, upon request of a defendant, must disclose any relevant written or recorded statements made by the defendant, the defendant’s prior criminal record, any documents and tangible objects material to the defense or intended use in the government’s case, and the results or reports of scientific tests.
While dismissal of a criminal case is a remedy of last resort, Naraja said “it is clearly within the court’s supervisory powers when the defendant is prejudiced by flagrant government misconduct.”
Naraja said in Wang and Chen’s case, the government’s failure to meet the discovery deadlines “do not appear to be flagrant or taken in bad faith.”
“First, it is conceivable that due to a turnover in staffing at the [AGO], the government might have inadvertently missed the discovery deadlines rather than knowingly defied this court’s order,” Naraja said.
Healso noted that law enforcers have resisted disclosing the informant’s identity as directed by the court.
The delay in laboratory result was also noted as the relationship between the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, which formally conducted all drug tests, and the CNMI government “has recently deteriorated.”
The CNMI government has contracted a new testing laboratory on Guam.
