HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A request to disqualify a judge over an alleged bias with Attorney General Douglas Moylan in two corruption cases was denied.
Last month, attorney Joaquin “Jay” Arriola, Jr. filed an objection in the Superior Court of Guam to Presiding Judge Alberto Lamorena III being assigned as judge in the cases of Department of Public Health and Social Services Director Arthur San Agustin and Guam Regional Transit Authority board Chair Alejo Sablan.
San Agustin faces charges related to approving sanitary permits for public schools without any legally required inspections. Sablan’s charges stem from Richard Ybanez not having the requisite college degree to serve as the interim executive manager of GRTA between April 2022 and May 2023.
After the two pleaded not guilty to their respective charges, Arriola on their behalf requested Lamorena be disqualified from hearing the case over an alleged bias against Moylan, who listed Lamorena as a professional reference on his resume posted on social media during his campaign last year.
Additionally, Moylan’s resume shows he worked for Lamorena as a law clerk between May 1992 and September 1991.
Denied
Upon the objection and request for disqualification being filed, Lamorena denied it and the matter was reviewed by another judge to determine whether Lamorena should stay on the cases.
Judge Alberto Tolentino would eventually do the review and issue a decision and order on Monday, where he concluded there were no grounds to disqualify Lamorena.
In his order, Tolentino refers to not only Arriola’s argument that there is reason to believe Lamorena would be impartial to Moylan but also discusses Lamorena’s response to the objection where he states Moylan using Lamorena as a professional reference “was a unilateral act by AG Moylan to which Lamorena ‘gave no input or direction.'”
After citing a series of statutes and cases which related to judges recusing themselves or being disqualified on the grounds they could show bias, Tolentino determined Lamorena’s association with Moylan did not warrant a disqualification.
In particular, Tolentino referred to the fact Lamorena did not attend political campaign functions during Moylan’s candidacy and there appeared to be no personal relationship that would lead Lamorena to be impartial to Moylan.
“Indeed, it appears Presiding Judge Lamorena was not even aware of the fact that AG Moylan was still using him as a professional reference 30 years after the latter’s service as law clerk ended. This fact alone makes this case distinguishable from the cited cases as the record is devoid of any ongoing personal or social relationship between Lamorena and AG Moylan, nor does the record contain evidence that Judge Lamorena publicly supports AG Moylan’s ‘tough on crime’ political platform,” Tolentino wrote.
“Absent any facts to the contrary, a reasonable person would not find that Presiding Judge Lamorena’s impartiality should ‘reasonably be questioned’ to warrant disqualification,” Tolentino added.
Trials
Before Tolentino’s decision, Lamorena held pretrial conferences for San Agustin and Sablan’s cases last week when he addressed the disqualification objection and explained the trials could not move forward until a decision was made.
However, even now that it has been determined Lamorena will stay on the case, the trials scheduled to start next week will be delayed because San Agustin, Sablan and their co-defendants have filed motions, which include requests for dismissal, and will require oral arguments to be done in court and time for Lamorena to make his decisions.
San Agustin’s co-defendant is Public Health Chief Environmental Health Officer Masatomo “Tom” Nadeau.
Sablan’s co-defendants include Ybanez, Transit board members, Hågat Mayor Kevin Susuico, Inålahan Mayor Anthony Chargualaf and Transit Certifying Officer Jennifer Badar Cruz.
Alberto Lamorena III
Joaquin “Jay” Arriola, Jr.
Douglas Moylan
