RAYMOND Lizama Saralu, the police officer who owned a government-issued firearm that accidentally went off and seriously injured his seven-year-old nephew, is facing up to five years imprisonment and a $5,000 fine or more for illegal storage of firearm.
Following a change of plea hearing at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho “adjudged and decreed” that the defendant is guilty of the offense of storage of firearm as charged in Count I of the third amended information filed by the Office of the Attorney General.
The government was represented by Chief Prosecutor Chester Hinds and Assistant Attorney General Heather Barcinas while the defendant appeared with Assistant Public Defenders Emily Thomsen and Karie Comstock.
Judge Camacho set the sentencing hearing for July 17, 2024, at 10 a.m. in Courtroom 220A.
He said the pre-sentence investigation report is due on or before June 21, 2024, and the sentencing memorandum, if any, is due on or before July 5, 2024.
Thomsen asked the court to allow her client to remain out of custody pending sentencing. The judge, however, denied the request and ordered that Saralu be immediately transported to the Department of Corrections.
During the change of plea proceeding, the court accepted the defendant’s plea of guilty to the offense after finding that:
(1) The defendant’s decision to plead guilty is freely, voluntarily, and intelligently made.
(2) He has had the advice of competent counsel whom he said he was satisfied with.
(3) He understood the consequences of his plea of guilty.
(4) There is a factual basis for the plea of guilty.
According to the judgment of conviction, Saralu, who turned 28 on May 1, 2024, unlawfully kept a firearm in his residence in Kagman III.
The information filed by the OAG stated that the defendant “failed to secure a firearm identified as a Glock 19 Gen5 9mm, to ensure that unauthorized persons did not have access to it in his dwelling, nor was it disabled with trigger, locked in a container, carried on the person of an individual over the age of 21….” Moreover, “the unsecured government-issued firearm did hard and cause serious bodily injuries to the minor victim.”
