Blast conspirator complains of ineffective lawyer

Andrew K. Quiambao, one of three men convicted in the burning of iConnect’s radio room on Mt. Tapochau, has complained that he was not given effective legal assistance during the proceedings.

Quiambao complained that his lawyer was ineffective when he failed to object to the court’s decision to impose restitution as a condition of his supervised release.

The court, realizing that its decision was not governed by any explicit statutory command, grounded its decision solely on the sentencing guidelines mandating that a court “shall” enter a restitution order as authorized under the law, said Quiambao.

Quiambao is currently serving a 37-month prison term in Lompoc, California.

In a motion he filed without a lawyer, Quiambao said that allowing the illegal imposition of restitution to stand upon such invalid grounds would violate due process of law and would also constitute a complete miscarriage of justice.

Quiambao said his counsel should have requested the court to make specific factual findings as to his ability to pay restitution.

He added that he was deprived of his 6th Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel.

Court record show that on Feb. 7, 2004, Quiambao and John Peter Reyes Mendiola, using gasoline, set fire to the iConnect facility, which, together with the FBI equipment and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration equipment, was destroyed in the explosion that followed.

Leon Guerrero, the owner of the Communication Specialists Inc., a two-way radio business that was a competitor of iConnect, was tagged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as the mastermind in the explosion.

The three were indicted. All signed a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson.

Quiambao and Mendiola were sentenced in 2004 to 37 months in prison. Leon Guerrero was ordered to serve five years in jail.

The defendants were ordered to pay restitution jointly for $567,396.

According to court papers, the damage to property to iConnect was $316,200. Other damages were CGU International Insurance PLC for $160,000; Motorola and U.S. Federal Government Markets Division for $45,931, and the FBI for $45,264.

Leon Guerrero had filed the same complaint of alleged ineffective legal assistance before but U.S. District Court Chief Judge Alex R. Munson denied it.