Previous Story
Court denies Camacho’s bid for retrial, acquittal
|
Posted on Jun 23 1999
Saying it found no reason to reverse the jury’s guilty verdict, the Superior Court has denied a convicted murderer’s requests for a new trial and acquittal.
The case involved Jesse James Babauta Camacho, who was found guilty of first degree murder in connection with the death of young athlete Antonio Sablan in April last year.
“Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, there was sufficient evidence that the defendant committed the crime of which he was convicted,” Associate Judge Timothy Bellas said in an order released Monday.
Bellas noted that the prosecutor, Asst. Atty. Gen. Barry Hirshbein, considered Camacho’s confession, which he made in “extra judicial statements.”
These statements, Bellas said, “were to be given the same weight as though offered as testimony in open court.”
“In any event the court finds that the reference made by the prosecutor cannot be considered so egregious as to warrant a new trial,” Bellas said.
Camacho was found guilty on March 12 after a four-day jury trial.
A 15-year-old boy, who had confessed to stabbing Sablan to death, said it was Camacho who ordered him to kill the victim. It was supposedly part of the boy’s initiation for membership into the so-called Red Rum gang.
The boy, who served as the government’s witness, told the court that Camacho had threatened to kill him and his family if he refused to follow orders.
Sablan, a student of Hopwood Junior High, was stabbed 37 times inside his house in Dandan.
In seeking a retrial, Camacho’s lawyer Anthony Long said “the court erred when it allowed the government to introduce the evidence of gang membership.”
Bellas. however, invoked an earlier ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court which held that “evidence relating to group and other organization is admissible when relevant to the issue of motive.”
The defense also had raised doubts on the testimony of the witness.
But Bellas ruled that the boy’s testimony was “not incredible on its face,” and that “the jury could and did find it believable and credible.”
