New trial ordered in Red Rum murder

Superior Court associate judge David A. Wiseman has ordered a retrial for the man convicted in the 1998 murder of a 13-year old male student on Saipan.

Wiseman, in a May 20, 2004 decision, granted the defendant, Jesse James Camacho, a writ of habeas corpus, and ordered that his judgment of conviction be vacated and that he receive a new trial.

Camacho is serving a 45-year imprisonment term after being convicted of first degree murder of his friend, Antonio Sablan Jr., in 1998.

Camacho was a minor when he was convicted of the crime in 1999.

Meantime, Wiseman’s order came following a petition by Camacho for habeas corpus, alleging that his constitutional right to effective assistance was violated.

Based on the facts presented in court during a hearing on April 13, Wiseman said that he agrees that there was “an ineffective assistance of counsel” to the defendant.

Camacho was charged with two escapes, one of which he admitted to.

He pleaded not guilty to the second escape, which proceeded to trial with attorney Antonio Atalig representing him.

The court had found Camacho guilty of escape and sentenced him to two years to be served consecutively to the 45-year sentence.

Subsequent to the April trial, Camacho had requested new counsel citing that Atalig never interviewed him about the offense nor returned his telephone calls from prison.

In the hearing, the defendant was represented by lawyer Matthew Smith.

For his part, Wiseman noted that Atalig was notified about the hearing but did not show up.

He said that the 6th amendment right to effective assistance of counsel is not intended to improve the quality of legal presentation, although that is the goal of considerable importance to the legal system, but “the purpose is simply to ensure that criminal defendants receive a fair trial.”

“The court, based on the above facts…concludes that they had a substantial and injurious impact on the outcome, and that the defendant is entitled to habeas relief.

He said the court found that there was “unwaivable conflict” following findings that a witness in the escape trial was also a convict with several convictions and a former client of Atalig.

“This fact was not disclosed. The testimony of these witnesses was relied upon to convict the defendant,” said Wiseman.

Further, the judge cited failure to investigate as well as failure to impeach during cross-examination of witnesses “notwithstanding their several convictions and incarcerations.”

Wiseman further said that the counsel did not introduce any physical line up evidence, despite the fact that during the line up, the victim of robbery that occurred during the escape did not identify the defendant.

He said the counsel did not object to the admission of a witness statement that was introduced into evidence by the prosecutor which was not authenticated.

“In view of the foregoing it is ordered that the writ of habeas corpus of is granted and that the relief shall be that the judgment of Camacho is hereby vacated and defendant shall receive a new trial,” said Wiseman.

The jury in 1999 found that the murder victim, Antonio Sablan, was stabbed 37 times by the convicted minor in their house, as part of the initiation rites for membership in the Red Rum gang.

Sablan was reportedly a star athlete from Hopwood Junior High School.

Camacho’s two co-defendants, both minors, had entered into a plea agreement and served as witnesses for the government. Each of them was sentenced to two years in jail.