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Family of slain Marine from Rota wants justice as trial begins
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Posted on Jun 12 2011
As the trial on his son’s murder case begins this week, all that David M. Santos of Rota wants is for justice to prevail for the late U.S. Marine Corporal Dave Michael Maliksi Santos.
The young Santos was allegedly murdered by a fellow Marine while deployed to Afghanistan almost a year ago.
David Santos said he will be leaving the CNMI today for Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for the trial that begins on June 16, a month before the one-year anniversary of his son’s death.
“What really hurts me is that I can only hear one side of the story. I can only hear the defendant, but not my son’s side of the story. I really feel sad. I hope justice will be served,” David Santos told Saipan Tribune in a phone interview from Rota.
The trial is expected to last three weeks.
David Santos said he expects to hear from the lone defendant in the case, Cpl. William Dalton, whom he saw for the first time in November last year during the preliminary hearing on the case. At the time, he said he wasn’t able to talk to or hear from the defendant.
“I want to ask him ‘Why? Why did you take my son’s life? The confrontation lasted only five to 10 minutes, and look at what happened,” the father said.
He said he hopes that the defendant, if found guilty, will serve his time.
The defendant, according to David Santos, has been at Camp Lejeune but not inside a prison cell.
Rep. Teresita Santos (Ind-Rota), the slain Marine’s aunt, said the family is hoping that justice will prevail in the case.
“The family has been waiting for this trial to begin. It’s been almost a year since his death,” she said.
The late corporal was allegedly stabbed in the neck on July 16, 2010 by a fellow Marine in Marjeh, Helmand Province in Afghanistan, where he was deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He was 21 years old.
He left behind a wife and a 3-year-old son. He was laid to rest on July 29 on Rota, his birthplace. He grew up in his mother’s country, the Philippines, before moving back to the CNMI and then joining the Marines. He last visited the island in April 2009.
