Jury to decide on $1-M police brutality suit

The jury deliberating on the merits of the $1 million damage suit against the CNMI government by alleged victim of police brutality Ramon A. Ayuyu is likely to hand down its decision today.

Lawyers for both parties made their closing arguments yesterday to plea their case to the six jurors, asking them to weigh the testimonies for the preponderance of the truth.

The case has become a question of credibility of the plaintiff and of the main defendant, police officer Hilary Tagabuel, who each presented a different account of what took place on Nov. 26, 1997.

Mr. Ayuyu, 22, claimed he was beaten up and had a gun pointed at his head by five police officers, including Mr. Tagabuel, when he was forced out of his house in Koblerville for questioning at the police station in Susupe regarding a theft incident two weeks earlier.

But Mr. Tagabuel, a detective assigned to the case, denied assaulting the plaintiff or using coercion to force him to sign a confession letter admitting to the crime.

Assistant Attorney General William Betz, who is representing the government and the officer, said that while he is sympathetic to Mr. Ayuyu due to his mental disability, he doesn’t remember the events surrounding the incident.

He repeated his argument that his testimony, as well as those from his mother and sister, was inconsistent and that the case should not have gone to trial.

“If you give him even one dollar, it’s a violation of the truth,” Mr. Betz said in his closing argument, noting Public Defender Masood Karimipour, who testified on behalf of the plaintiff, coached him and the others to tell their account of the incident.

Mr. Karimipour defended Mr. Ayuyu in the criminal case filed by the Attorney General’s Office in 1998 in connection with the $50 theft he allegedly took from a customer of Winchell’s in Susupe. The Superior court dismissed the complaint after the government said a prime witness had left the island.

Steve Pixley, the court-appointed lawyer for Mr. Ayuyu, maintained his client sustained black eye, cracked lip and trauma after he was mishandled during what he described as “inquisition” on Nov. 26, 1997.

He asked the jury to take this opportunity to make a stand against police brutality and award damages to Mr. Ayuyu for what he experienced.

“He went to court to seek justice,” Mr. Pixley said in his closing argument, “you ought to give it to him.”

The jurors have to decide whether Mr. Ayuyu can claim punitive and other monetary damages against the government and Mr. Tagabuel.

The Department of Public Safety and four police officers, who were unnamed in the civil suit, were dropped from the case early in the trial by District Judge Alex R. Munson due to insufficient evidence.