Inos directed Assistant Attorney General Peter Prestley, the prosecutor, to find out if the proposed property bond is “free and clear,” while Assistant Public Defender Douglas Hartig was ordered to look for a qualified third party custodian for his client, David Roberto, 46.
While waiting to serve the remainder of his jail sentence for his conviction in an illegal drugs case, police arrested Roberto last week after he talked to his sister’s daughter-in-law on the phone and threatened to kill them.
Roberto is being held on charges of assault, criminal contempt, and violating an order of protection.
Inos remanded Roberto to the custody of the Department of Corrections after the hearing.
The judge earlier imposed a $2,750 cash bail on Roberto.
Hartig is asking the court to approve a property bond that will cover the $2,750 cash bail.
He told the court that the Eighth Amendment and the CNMI Constitution “prohibit the imposition of excessive bail.”
In opposing the motion to modify Roberto’s cash bail, Prestley said in his written response that “there is significant evidence of [the defendant’s] guilt in this case.”
The Nov. 29, 2010 incident was the third time Roberto had called and threatened to hurt his sister’s mother-in-law, and her family members, the prosecutor told the court.
Prestley said on one occasion, Roberto also parked north of the house of his sister’s mother-in-law and “just watched her and her family members.”
“Do you like chop steak or chop chop? You want kids or grandkids first?” Prestley quoted a text message sent by Roberto to his sister’s mother-in-law.
A protection order was issued by Associate Judge Kenneth L. Govendo for Roberto’s sister and her family members against the defendant last September.
“[Roberto] is either unwilling or unable to control his impulses to threaten his family. Whether [he] would act on these threats is unknown, but he has caused his family to live in terror,” Prestley said.
Roberto pleaded guilty in 1995 to assault and battery, disturbing the peace, and four counts of criminal contempt.
