Wiseman also ordered the release of the body of Wilben Herman Lifoifoi, 15, to his parents.
The remains are scheduled to be interred today.
Annjuliet Marie Lieto Lifoifoi and Joseph Lifoifoi asked for a TRO on the planned autopsy on their son who died on Sept. 1, 2011 after falling off from the back of the pick-up truck driven by the victim’s uncle on Aug. 31, 2011.
Wiseman said: “The death of Wilben has not occurred under conditions suggesting poisoning, violence, or unusual circumstances…. Further, the cause and manner of death are ascertainable. Defendants’ argued that proving the death of Wilben was a proximate cause of the driver’s violations of the law was essential to the driver’s prosecution. However, by all accounts it is settled that Wilben’s cause of death was head trauma as a result of falling from the truck resulting in a skull fracture.”
“The government’s insistence on moving forward with an autopsy that is not authorized by law places great hardships on a family that has suffered two losses in a short time span. Immediate and irreparable injury will result if the burial customs and rituals of the family are inferred with and the scheduled funeral is disturbed,” Wiseman further ruled.
Prior to the incident, the victim joined family members in burying his uncle, the husband of his mother’s sister, in Tanapag cemetery on Aug. 31, 2011.
As the pick-up truck moved along the pot-hole filled dirt road at the Tanapag cemetery, Wilben sat on the railing of the truck, the complaint filed by the parents said.
As the victim leaned over the side of the truck to spit, the truck hit a hole in the ground and he fell off the truck and hit the road head first, the complaint stated.
The victim was rushed to the Commonwealth Health Center and was admitted into the intensive care unit. The next day, he died due to internal injuries sustained when he hit his head from the fall, the complaint added.
On Sept. 6, the victim’s parent learned from the Attorney General’s Office that the victim’s body could not yet be released since the AGO had scheduled an autopsy on the remains by the Department of Public Health last night.
The mother said she did not want her son’s body to undergo autopsy because the desecration of his body will be against their Refaluwasch cultural beliefs.
With or without the mother’s consent, the AGO said it will proceed with the autopsy on the victim’s body, the complaint said.
The complaint said the “cultural practice of Chamorro and Refaluwasch people of the Northern Mariana Islands is to honor and love our loved ones who have died shown by preparing their bodies by applying coconut oil on their bodies and dressing them in traditional wear before the modern clothes and also by decorating their bodies with mwaar, cultural beads and teer and having a stranger cut up the body is the utmost disrespect to the deceased and the family.”
Attorney Viola Alepuyo represented the family.
Named respondents were the CNMI government, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial in his official capacity, Attorney General Edward T. Buckingham in his personal and official capacities, Department of Public Health Secretary Kevin Villagomez in his official and personal capacities, and 10 John Does.
The victim’s parents asked the court for a preliminary injunction, due process under the U.S and CNMI Constitutions for right to approve an autopsy and the right to religious freedom.
