JUDGE Pro Tempore Elyze M. Iriarte on Friday issued an order staying the enforcement of a subpoena issued to the Judiciary’s human resources office for the personnel records of former law clerk William Abraczinskas pending the outcome of a motion to quash.
Abraczinskas, a former law clerk of Judge Kenneth L. Govendo, was accused of rape by another court employee. He has denied the charge.
“Pending the formal hearing and decision from the court, the production of documents and records requested in the Subpoena Ad Testificandum filed Aug. 7, 2024, is hereby stayed,” Judge Iriarte said in her order.
“The Commonwealth’s Opposition, if any, shall be due on or before Aug. 28. Nonparty, Judiciary of the Northern Mariana Islands’ Reply, if any, shall be due on or before Sept. 3,” the judge added.
The actual motion hearing schedule has yet to be determined.
The Superior Court issued two subpoenas duces tecum, one for the Judiciary’s HR officer and another for the Office of Personnel Management director, Joseph M. Pangelinan, after Assistant Attorney General Frances Demapan requested the subpoena to be issued.
Demapan is seeking from the Judiciary’s HR office a “copy of any written or recorded reports, documents, email correspondence, findings, or statements involving the [Equal Employment Opportunity] complaint filed” by Abraczinskas against his accuser.
Demapan requested similar documents from OPM.
The CNMI Judiciary, through its general counsel, Hyun Jae Lee, asked the court to quash the subpoena duces tecum issued to the Judiciary’s HR office.
Lee also asked the court for a protective order or, as an alternative, to modify the subpoena.
“The subpoena must be quashed as it seeks confidential and privileged materials,” Lee said, adding that the Judiciary EEO records are “irrelevant to the pending criminal case.”
She said the case “involves an allegation of sexual assault which purportedly happened outside the workplace, outside work hours — action not taken within the scope of defendant’s employment.”
“The Judiciary EEO records, reports, findings, and documents pertain to whether the Judiciary’s Equal Employment Opportunity Policy had been violated within the workplace and/or during work time. Such records are irrelevant to the pending criminal case and have no bearing on the Commonwealth’s case,” she reiterated.
According to the complaint against Abraczinskas, on May 26, 2023, police received a walk-in complaint from a judicial employee who alleged that her co-worker, Abraczinskas, sexually assaulted her on April 8, 2023, at Beach Garden Apartments.
She also told investigators that she had learned that Abraczinskas filed a sexual harassment complaint against her with the judiciary’s human resources office.
After meeting with HR and opening up to her supervisor about the alleged sexual assault, she said she found the courage to come to the Department of Public Safety and tell her side of the incident.
According to Variety news files, Abraczinskas was detained and then released on a $100,000 unsecured bond but placed under house arrest.
Abraczinskas is represented by Chief Public Defender Douglas Hartig.
Judge Iriarte has scheduled the jury trial to begin on Monday, Sept. 9 at 9:30 a.m.
