Witness retracts in cop ‘beating’

The first witness presented by the government yesterday recanted his earlier statements against Francis Eugenio, saying he didn’t see him hitting the police officer with a crow bar.

Arnold Sablan told the jury that he was forced to state that he saw police officer Jose Cepeda coming in to Wendy’s during the dawn of November 29, 1997 and Eugenio hit him with a crow bar.

“That’s why I’m here to tell the truth,” he said as the jury trial for CNMI versus Eugenio started yesterday.

Sablan made this revelation after defendant’s lawyer Masood Karimapour asked him about his conflicting testimonies.

When the witness entered into an agreement with the government to testify against the defendant, he stated that he saw Eugenio hitting the police officer.

Yesterday, he said he didn’t actually witness the incident because he was outside the business establishment when it happened.

Sablan earlier pleaded guilty for one count of burglary and agreed to testify against Eugenio. He was sentenced to serve one year and six months in prison.

Eugenio’s lawyer pointed out to the court that if Sablan had refused to testify against his client, he would face 20 years in prison. Along with burglary, Sablan was also charged with aggravated assault and battery like Eugenio.

Karimapour told the jury that Sablan and one minor, who broke into Wendy’s, were beaten up and threatened by police officers. Both can only point at Eugenio as the culprit, who was still at large at that time.

He said both made a deal with the government to testify in court against his client.

In his testimony yesterday, Sablan said he was beaten up and when he was inside the mobile car near the Bansai Cliff, he heard the police officers were talking about throwing one of “these kids”.

“I don’t think they were joking,” he told the court.

Eugenio, Sablan and one minor broke into Wendy’s at 3 AM on November 29, 1997. When the Department of Public Safety responded to the alarm call from Wendy’s, police officer Cepeda entered the establishment alone and was struck with a crow bar.

During the trial, government’s lawyer Aaron Williams cited an earlier burglary incident involving Eugenio. He told the jury that in June 1995, he committed burglary and left a crow bar at the scene.

After two years, police officers recovered a crow bar filled with blood inside Wendy’s.