Associate David A. Wiseman ordered the 18-year-old defendant to post a $25,000 cash bail, surrender his travel documents and not leave Saipan without permission from the court.
The defendant, Maximo San Nicolas Muna, appeared for a bail hearing yesterday with his counsel, Assistant Public Defender Matthew Holley. Assistant Attorney General Rebecca Warfield represented the government.
He was charged with one count of escape.
As the defendant was unable to post bail, he was remanded to the Kagman Youth Facility. Wiseman set the arraignment for Jan. 26, 2009.
In his affidavit, Detective George Fleming David stated that Kagman facility reported a prison escape past midnight on Jan. 1.
David said responding police officers met with the detention unit officer and learned that the defendant escaped from the facility with one of the three suspects charged with the murder of a security guard at Marianas High School in November last year.
The investigation showed that the defendant and his companion escaped through a cut fence line from within the facility’s yard. It was learned that at about 11:50 p.m., a juvenile detention unit officer noticed two human figures within the facility yard through the surveillance cameras.
The officer said after viewing the camera and confirming her sightings, she immediately called for a lockdown and a head count.
Later, other officers conducted a yard sweep and found that a portion of the south wing fence line was cut open.
The affidavit stated that at about 6 a.m., on Jan. 1, the defendant and his companion were found back outside the premises of the Kagman Juvenile Detention Facility. They were taken back to their cell units.
