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Court denies defendants’ motion to suppress
The Office of the Attorney General’s criminal division triumphs in a ruling handed down by the NMI Superior Court.
On April 22, 2015, Associate Judge Joseph Camacho issued a ruling that denied John Benevente Reyes’ motion to suppress evidence. A motion to suppress is filed when defendant seeks to exclude evidence from trial.
On Oct. 10, 2014, the Department of Public Safety responded to a 911 call with a tip that four men in a vehicle parked outside Dolphin Wholesale were smoking methamphetamine. Officer Maliyuf and Officer Hosono responded to the call. When the officers arrived, they observed four men in the vehicle described by the concerned citizen. The officers approached the car to investigate and discovered methamphetamine in a bag being carried by the defendant.
Camacho held that the tip was sufficiently reliable because it was made while the eyewitness was observing the crime and the officers corroborated the details from the tip when they arrived on scene. Furthermore, Camacho found that Officer Hosono properly seized the methamphetamine and followed appropriate protocol. Assistant attorney general Emily Cohen represented the government.
The Attorney General’s Office would like to recognize the hard work of the Department of Public Safety and assistant attorney general Emily Cohen.
“Any citizen witnessing a crime should immediately report it to the police or crime stoppers. In this case, a concerned citizen made our Commonwealth safer for everyone,” stated Attorney General Edward Manibusan. (OAG)
