Benedetto: ‘Mea culpa’

Assistant Attorney General James Benedetto has apologized for issuing an “inappropriate comment” in court Wednesday which implied that the juries in CNMI cannot be trusted to convict local defendants.

It must have been a slip of the tongue or a result of his passion to pursue the sexual abuse case against lawyer Joseph Aldan Arriola.

But whatever his reason maybe, Mr. Benedetto moved swiftly to control the damage by apologizing to Superior Court Associate Judge Timothy H. Bellas for his remarks.

“Please accept my apology for inappropriate comment in court today. If I offended anyone, I am sincerely sorry. I certainly did not mean to imply that CNMI juries cannot be trusted to convict local defendants,” he said.

The prosecution was seeking a reconsideration of an earlier decision issued by Judge Bellas granting a jury trial on Mr. Arriola, who is facing two counts of sexual abuse.

Judge Bellas has ruled that the right to a jury trial is guaranteed by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution in prosecutions for serious criminal offenses.

Mr. Benedetto said what he meant in his comment was that there is always a possibility that a nullification verdict may be issued by a jury, a verdict which is based not on evidence, but on some improper consideration.

He said the defense may argue for a nullification verdict because of its claims that Mr. Arriola is being prosecuted due to improper motives by the Attorney General’s Office.

“Given the possibility of a nullification verdict, however remote, it would be unfortunate if the defendant were to receive a jury trial, successfully argue for nullification, and then be acquitted on that basis,” Mr. Benedetto said.

Mr. Benedetto said he believes that the legislature provided only bench trials for persons accused of such crimes because it believed that judges might have more training and experience in evaluating the testimony of child victims.

Said Mr. Benedetto: “An average juror, seeing a reluctant or nervous child victim on the stand, might conclude that he or she was not credible; a judge might better understand that developmental differences between children and adults; the victim’s conflicting feelings about the perpetrator, the victim’s humiliation at having to describe in detail such intimate personal matters, would all contribute to the way he or she testified about the case.”

Mr. Benedetto admitted that the jury trial in a rape case which he successfully prosecuted last January belies any notion that the local juries cannot be trusted to provide an objective decision on local defendants.

He added that he has always had good luck in “trusting the integrity and wisdom of juries, both here and in Alaska.” (LFR)