Villagomez, through attorney Joey P. San Nicolas, filed the joinder to Santos’s motion to strike out the 1998-2000 transactions stated in count 1 of the indictment on Nov. 10, 2008.
In his motion, Santos’ counsel, Victorino DLG. Torres, said including the transactions from 1998 to 2000 would only prejudice the defendants, confuse issues, mislead the jury and create undue hardship and needless presentation of evidence.
Torres said the federal government has alleged overt acts which occurred between Feb. 6, 1998 to Jan. 4, 2000, and these fall outside the statute of limitations and must be stricken entirely from the indictment.
He added that the transactions from 1998 to 2000 do not even constitute an “overt” act, and for an act to be overt, “it must relate to the accomplishment of the substantive crime intended but not yet accomplished.”
Torres said the allegations regarding the 1998 to 2000 transactions stated that all the activities, including negotiations of price, execution of contract and delivery of the Rydlyme product to the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. were fully completed since Jan. 4, 2000.
“A plain reading of the indictment clearly show that there is nothing left to be completed or done to the transaction that occurred between 1998 and 2000,” Torres said.
He said the government’s allegation regarding activities that happened over eight years ago affects Santos’ ability to properly investigate and prepare for a meaningful defense.
He added that it would be impractical to formulate a defense when many witnesses are no longer available as CUC has changed its composition and many of the employees have already retired, and those that are available, their memories are limited.
Torres also said that including the 1998 to 2000 transactions is an “improper use of prior bad acts.”
“It is obvious that the government is attempting to prejudice the jury by stating that the defendants who have done it before have the inclination of doing it again,” he said.
The 1998-2000 transactions in the count one of the indictment against stated that on Feb. 2, 1998, Villagomez caused the CUC to purchase Rydlyme from Santos’ company, Islas, which provided a benefit of $286, 125 to Santos from the CUC. The cost associated with the agreement was about $68,570.
The trial of Villagomez, Santos, Santos’ wife Joaquina, and former CUC Executive Director Anthony C. Guerrero has been set for March 23, 2009.
Of the four defendants, only Guerrero has entered a guilty plea to the charges. The other three pleaded not guilty.
The defendants have been indicted for conspiring to defraud CUC thousands of dollars through unnecessary purchases of Rydlyme.
