Cop whose gun injured minor pleads guilty

The police officer whose service firearm was used in the shooting of a minor pleaded guilty to improperly storing a firearm during his jury trial yesterday.

Yesterday, during the jury trial for officer Raymond Lizama Saralu, Chief Criminal Prosecutor Chester Hinds moved to amend the information filed against Saralu and dismissed five of the six storage of firearm charges filed against him.

After the prosecution amended the information, Saralu openly pleaded guilty to one count of storage of firearms where a child was injured.

An open plea essentially means there is no agreement between the parties in regard to sentencing. Rather, an open plea gives the court the discretion to impose either the maximum or minimum sentence carried by the charge, as well as other conditions.

In this case, Saralu faces a possible sentence of five years, a $5,000 fine, or more.

After Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph Camacho accepted Saralu’s plea, defense counsel Emily Thomsen requested that her client remain out of custody pending sentencing.

However, Camacho denied the request and ordered that the defendant be immediately transported to the Department of Corrections for booking so he can start serving time.

“The sooner you’re in, the sooner you’re out. Let me be honest, you’re going to be doing some time. This way, you will get credit for time served,” Camacho said.

Saralu’s sentencing is set for July 17 at 10am before Camacho.

Jury trial

Saralu was not even supposed to proceed with a jury trial as during a hearing last week, a plea agreement was brought before the court.

Saipan Tribune learned that the initial plea agreement was not accepted by the court.

Then, last Monday, the government filed a request for leave to amend information and notice of another plea agreement late last Monday afternoon (so to not proceed with a lengthy jury selection process).

However, the court said it is not prudent to conduct a change of plea hearing before all the potential jurors on the morning of the jury trial set for May 7 on the possibility that the defendant withdraws his plea, members of the victim’s family lodge objections against the plea agreement, or the court rejects the plea agreement.

Because of this, Camacho ruled that a change of plea hearing be held after the jury trial selection process is completed.

“Therefore, to avoid having the potential jurors hearing the discussions of the plea on the morning of the jury trial, the jury selection shall go forth. After the jury has been selected, and outside the presence of the jury and with the rest of the potential jurors dismissed, the court will take up the change of plea. The exact time of the change of plea hearing will depend on when the jury has been selected, empaneled, and asked to wait in the jury room,” the court ordered.

After Saralu entered his guilty plea, all selected jurors were called back and dismissed.

According to the amended information filed against Saralu, on or about May 21, 2023, Saralu, did unlawfully, keep a firearm [unsecured] within a residence, a place of business, or on private land.

“Defendant failed to secure a firearm identified as a Glock 19 Gen5 9mm—Serial #BXYD674 to ensure that unauthorized persons did not have access to it in his dwelling, nor was it disabled with trigger locks, locked in a container, carried on the person of an individual over the age of 21; or the firearm is under the immediate control of a person who is a law enforcement officer, in which the unsecured government issued firearm did harm and cause serious bodily injuries to the minor victim,” said the information.