CHIEF Prosecutor Chester Hinds has requested the Superior Court to declare that Steven Koch, the alleged victim in the trial of Rep. Vicente Camacho, is unavailable due to physical illness.
Hinds also requested the court to allow Koch’s nontestimonial hearsay statements to be entered into evidence at trial.
Camacho, 61, and co-defendant Teipo Nikiti, 21, were charged with assault and battery and disturbing the peace.
According to the prosecution, Koch suffered abrasions, bruising, and pain on his head and body from the blows following the incident on Oct. 29, 2021.
Hinds said sometime in 2022, Koch’s health began to fail.
“He has health issues in the past. He went to the states to confirm if these issues were returning. While in the states, Koch was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism with deep vein thrombosis,” Hinds said.
He said a letter from Koch’s Veterans Administration doctor dated Jan. 26, 2024 stated that Koch is unable “to sit for any extended period of time without increasing the risk of additional clots.”
The doctor also said that Koch shouldn’t travel by plane until the clotting issue is resolved, Hinds said.
“After the [assault] incident, Koch was taken to the hospital and made statements about the incident to the doctor who did the examination. These statements are also allowable under the statements for purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment hearsay exception,” Hinds said.
“The Commonwealth asks that statements made as excited utterances and statements made for medical diagnosis or treatment, and any other statements where other hearsay exceptions apply, are allowed to be entered into evidence,” he added.
Associate Judge Kenneth L. Govendo has scheduled a hearing for April 25 at 9 a.m.
Camacho’s appearance at the hearing was waived, but Nikiti was ordered to appear.
Attorney Michael White represents Camacho while the Public Defender’s Office represents Nikiti.
Following the assault incident, Koch, his wife and daughter sought a temporary restraining order to prevent Camacho and three other individuals “from engaging in any further physical harm, disturbance, harassment, blocking, threats and verbal abuse.”
The three other individuals were Ignacio “Ike” S. Concepcion, Fiel Reynaldo Ortiz, and Teipo A. Nikiti.
The court granted the TRO, which expired on Nov. 8, 2022.
The incident stemmed from a long-standing animosity between Koch and his brother-in-law, Concepcion, and took place near their homes on Freedom Drive in Chinatown.
Concepcion is Camacho’s friend.
