ATTORNEY Keith Chambers has asked the Superior Court to dismiss the criminal contempt case against Shayne Villanueva on the grounds that his client’s right to counsel was violated during a House Special Committee on Federal Assistance and Disaster-Related Funding investigatory hearing.
The committee violated “Mr. Villanueva’s 1 CMC § 1303(a) right to counsel and, therefore, the Commonwealth is barred from pursuing contempt charges against Mr. Villanueva pursuant to 1 CMC § 1307(b),” Chambers said.
After the committee issued a subpoena, Villanueva appeared at a legislative hearing, but Chambers said he was prevented by House Sergeant-at-Arms Pedro Towai from sitting next to his client and, instead, was forced to sit several feet behind his client in a seat clearly reserved for him.
“The committee conducted their questioning of Mr. Villanueva with the mandated seating arrangement,” Chambers said.
He said the distance was so great that he could neither physically reach out and touch his client to get his attention, nor could Villanueva speak in a manner that would prevent the committee from hearing what he was saying.
According to Chambers, he was forced to comply with the order to sit at the seat provided to him because defiance of that order would have put him at risk of facing criminal contempt penalties himself.
“Mr. Villanueva was not seated next to his counsel and Mr. Villanueva was not seated where his counsel could provide confidential and effective advice as questions were being asked during the investigation,” Chambers reiterated.
Villanueva is the owner of Roil Soil Marketing, which the administration of then-Gov. Ralph DLG Torres contracted to help implement the $17 million federally funded Building Optimism, Opportunities and Stability Together or BOOST program in 2022.
According to the House Special Committee on Federal Assistance & Disaster-Related Funding, the documents it gathered indicate that Villanueva was paid $215,000 “at the very least,” by the previous administration for implementing the program.
On March 5, 2024, Villanueva appeared before the committee and invoked his Fifth Amendment right when asked questions about BOOST.
The committee found him in contempt, and Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez transmitted to Attorney General Edward Manibusan a “certification of statement of contempt” pertaining to Villanueva.
On March 22, 2024, Villanueva self-surrendered at the Department of Corrections after an arrest warrant was issued against him for contempt. Villanueva posted $1,000 bail for his release.
He entered a plea of not guilty to the charge of contempt of Legislature during an arraignment before Superior Court Presiding Judge Roberto C. Naraja on April 2.
