Associate Judge Ramona V. Manglona yesterday dismissed the jurors at about 4:45 p.m. They started their deliberations at 2:30 p.m.
The judge excused two alternate jurors, leaving six jurors to deliberate on the charges against George Manglona, 29, and Ignacio Deleon Guerrero, also known as Kaboyu, 57.
Judge Manglona lifted the house arrest she imposed on the defendants.
Judge Manglona reminded George Manglona that he still has to face the charge of contempt of court for violating his curfew.
After the hearing, Deleon Guerrero went home with some family members while George Manglona was remanded to the custody of the Department of Corrections.
Judge Manglona imposed a $1,000 cash bail on George Manglona.
Jurors earlier heard the closing arguments of Assistant Attorneys General Russel Lorfing and Shelli Neal, the prosecutors, and the defense counsels, Assistant Public Defender Michael Brown and attorney Joseph James Norita Camacho.
The prosecution said they had proven the case against the defendants beyond reasonable doubt.
“We don’t convict people of having legal things in their life,” Camacho told jurors, referring to the baggies, straw and scales seized by police from his client Deleon Guerrero.
Camacho noted that the government did not present the officer who conducted the interview when Deleon Guerrero supposedly gave his “confession” last year.
Camacho said procedures were not followed and appropriate steps were not taken against his client.
Brown said the prosecution had “no first hand information” about the alleged drug dealings of his client George Manglona.
They are all “speculations,” Brown added.
The prosecution presented testimonies of police officers and a government informant.
The defense said the prosecution had no evidence against their client, and the confidential informant could not even recall his own name.
It is “painfully obvious” that the confidential informant could not recall his name because he was “terrified for good reasons,” Lorfing said.
The government said the confidential informant volunteered to help the police.
The Attorney General’s Office charged George Manglona and Deleon Guerrero with illegal possession and trafficking of “ice.”
Deleon Guerrero and Manglona also illegally possessed marijuana, the AGO said.
Moreover, according to the AGO, Deleon Guerrero and Manglona conspired to commit “ice” trafficking.
Deleon Guerrero was also charged with unlawfully removing a green sea turtle, and numerous trochus shells from Saipan waters, and unlawfully removing a fruit bat.
The defendants have denied the charges.
