Court asked to clarify ruling in Stanley case

The Attorney General’s Office yesterday sought to clarify a court ruling on a criminal case against former congressman Stanley Torres, which had directed it to amend the criminal documents to include the identity of the attorney general—Pamela Brown—in the charging documents.

Superior Court Associate Judge Juan T. Lizama had earlier denied the request of Torres and co-defendants Dorothy Sablan and Frank S. Ada to quash the charging documents on the ground that they did not carry the name of the attorney general as prosecutor. Lizama, however, ordered the AGO to amend the criminal information to include Brown’s name.

Deputy Attorney General Clyde Lemons Jr. and CNMI chief prosecutor David Hutton signed the documents charging Torres with five counts each of misconduct in public office, conspiracy to commit theft, conspiracy to commit theft by deception and illegal use of public supplies, services, time and personnel.

They filed against Sablan five counts each of the last three offenses. Additionally, the prosecutors filed five counts each of theft, theft by deception and receiving stolen property against her.

Ada faces four counts each of conspiracy to commit theft and conspiracy to commit theft by deception, and illegal use of public supplies, services, time and personnel.

In his May 25, 2004 ruling, Lizama favored the prosecutors’ argument that the attorney general could delegate portions of the power to institute criminal prosecution. The defendants had argued that they were improperly charged because Brown’s name or signature did not appear in the charging documents, citing the constitutional provision that the attorney general should be responsible for prosecuting violations of criminal law.

Lizama added, however, that his court “believes that it is the better practice to attach the name of the [attorney general]” in the charging documents. The judge said a defendant should be entitled to know the identity of the attorney general where this information is relevant to the defense.

In seeking clarification of the ruling, Lemons and Hutton said that the defendants have not shown that the inclusion of the attorney general’s identity in the charging documents would be relevant to their defense.

“Therefore, the Commonwealth seeks clarification as to when and how this is to be done prior to an amendment of the [criminal] information. The Commonwealth also seeks clarification as to the showing that must be made in order for relevance to be established,” the prosecutors said.

They also noted that Torres and his co-defendants have yet to be arraigned on the charges against them. They asked the court to clarify at what stage of the court proceedings the relevance issue should be established.

A hearing on the defendants’ earlier request to annul the charging documents reopened the rift between Torres and Brown. Before concluding the hearing, the judge said in open court that he was inclined to grant the defendants’ request.

The former lawmaker was one of Brown’s critics when she was appointed to the post. Brown had just been confirmed by the Senate when the charges against the congressman were filed in court. Investigations against the congressman, however, began even before Brown officially became attorney general, Hutton earlier said.

The criminal information alleged that Sablan received at least five checks totaling $5,384.67 in government payroll in 2003, when she was actually off-island. Sablan used to be Stanley Torres’ office manager. Ada allegedly prepared fraudulent time and attendance sheets indicating that Sablan rendered work when she was off-island.