By Bryan Manabat
[email protected]
Variety News Staff
CHARLSTON Yamada Aiken, 44, who was sentenced Wednesday to concurrent jail terms for assault and battery and disturbing the peace, may be released after prosecutors acknowledged he has already overserved his sentence, according to a motion filed Thursday in Superior Court.
Assistant Attorney General Daniel Johnson told the court that Aiken’s eight-month sentence ended June 22. Aiken was arrested on Oct. 22, 2025, and has remained in custody since. During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, Presiding Judge Joseph N. Camacho noted that Aiken’s sentence “should be over” and that he should have been released.
Prosecutors initially believed Aiken could not be freed because he was awaiting trial in another criminal case. However, Johnson wrote that the government later determined the charges in that case were filed by penal summons, meaning Aiken did not need to remain detained. The Office of the Attorney General is now asking the court to order his release from the Department of Corrections.
Aiken was convicted June 9 following a bench trial before Judge Camacho, who found him guilty of assault and battery (domestic violence) and disturbing the peace stemming from two incidents in Chalan Kanoa and Laly Four. He was acquitted of resisting arrest after the court determined he was not being arrested during the September 2025 incident.
During the trial, defense attorney Steven Pixley questioned the officer who deployed a Taser on Aiken while he was on the roof of a residence in Laly Four. Pixley pressed the officer on whether Aiken was disoriented or unable to see after being maced, suggesting that Aiken either jumped or fell from the roof before being transported to the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, Variety learned.
Officers testified that on Sept. 23, 2025, they responded to the I Zone shop on Beach Road, where witnesses reported seeing Aiken slam his girlfriend to the ground and punch her several times. One officer said the victim appeared visibly shaken and had injuries consistent with the reported assault.
Police later located Aiken on a rooftop in Laly Four. According to testimony, he refused commands, barricaded himself, and eventually went over the edge of the roof, injuring himself. Investigators also testified that videos of other alleged incidents involving Aiken had surfaced on social media, though those recordings were not part of the charges decided in the June 9 trial.
Aiken was arrested again on Oct. 21, 2025, after officers responded to another disturbance in Laly Four. An officer testified that Aiken was yelling, acting aggressively, and refused commands, leading to his arrest for disturbing the peace and assault and battery.
Judge Camacho found the officers’ accounts consistent and supported by physical evidence and victim statements in issuing his verdict.
The court has not yet ruled on the prosecution’s request for Aiken’s release.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
