AGO opposes Ada’s motion to dismiss case

The Attorney General’s Office opposed yesterday the motion of Frank Ada—co-defendant of former Rep. Stanley S. Torres in an alleged ghost employee scheme—to junk the charges against him due to the government’s delay in bringing him to trial.

The AGO, through chief prosecutor David Hutton, challenged Ada’s basis for the motion, arguing that there is no statute for a speedy trial in the CNMI and that the case does not meet the constitutional requirement for a speedy trial.

Ada had asked the court to dismiss the case with finality, citing a procedural rule in the Commonwealth Rules of Criminal Procedure against unnecessary delay in filing an information or bringing a defendant to trial.

The AGO conceded that, if the court does grant Ada’s motion, it should be based solely on the absence of the Attorney General’s name on the criminal information. Even then, the dismissal should be without finality, it said, which means the same case can be re-filed against the defendant.

The AGO also moved for a scheduling of arraignment where “at such time the parties can discuss the motion for stay, the delay, and other matters.”

The motion for stay relates to the appeal filed by the AGO on the ruling of Superior Court judge Juan T. Lizama, who had directed the AGO to amend the criminal information against Torres to bear the name of the attorney general Pamela Brown.

In the motion, Hutton said: “The Commonwealth is moving to stay proceedings on this basis because the issue of whether the court’s decision in granting the Commonwealth’s motion is correct but the mandate in doing so is in error.”

The chief prosecutor reiterated those sentiments in the opposition, saying: “It is noteworthy, that the court stated in its order that there is no statutory requirement for the Attorney General’s name except that in this case, for some inexplicable reason, the Commonwealth was ordered to do so, in direct contravention of this court’s own analysis of the Commonwealth’s statutes, rules of procedure and Constitution.”

Deputy Attorney General Clyde Lemons Jr. and Hutton signed the original documents in March that charged former Rep. Torres with five counts of misconduct in public office, conspiracy to commit theft, conspiracy to commit theft by deception and illegal use of public supplies, services, time and personnel in each of the offenses.

Ada faces four counts each of conspiracy to commit theft and conspiracy to commit theft by deception, and illegal use of public supplies, services, time and personnel.

The criminal information alleged that Torres’ former office manager, Dorothy Sablan, received at least five checks totaling $5,384.67 in government payroll in 2003, when she was actually off-island. Ada allegedly prepared fraudulent time and attendance sheets indicating that Sablan had performed her duties when she was off-island.