Under the enabling legislation of Public Law 16-52, the unit shall be headed by a victim witness coordinator who shall report to the chief of the AGO’s Criminal Division.
“The victim witness coordinator may not hold any other position within the commonwealth government and shall not engage in any employment other than that of serving the victim witness coordinator,” the new law signed on January 29 stated.
Former Rep. Rosemond B. Santos, R-Saipan, who is now the chief prosecutor, sponsored the legislation of the new law.
After losing her re-election bid, Santos endorsed Fitial of the ruling Covenant Party during the gubernatorial runoff election.
The new law amended the 1996 Victim’s Rights Act to have the Victim Witness Advocacy Unit under the AGO rather than the Criminal Justice Planning Agency.
A new clause was inserted to the said act requiring the AGO to inform the victim or victim’s family if the defendant seeks appellate review of a conviction or sentence, the status of the case on appeal and the decision of the appellate court upon disposition.
The new law also requires the unit to prepare a written victim impact statement which shall be appended to the Probation Office’s pre-sentence report on a defendant before a sentence is handed down to the person.
“The statement shall include applicable information obtained during consultation with the victim. If the victim cannot be located or declines to submit information for the preparation of the statement, the probation department shall include a notation to that effect in the report,” it says.
