Sablan found guilty of attempted murder

The jury yesterday found Gerald Cabrera Sablan guilty of all charges for attempting to murder a gas attendant last year.

After deliberating for over an hour, the six jurors reached a verdict declaring the 29-year-old Sablan guilty of attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and kidnapping.

Superior Court Associate Judge David Wiseman ordered the Probation Office to prepare a pre-sentence investigation and set the sentencing for July 6 at 9am.

The clerk of court read the decision at 3:40pm. The jurors, however, only answered the verdict form as to attempted first-degree murder and kidnapping because of a typographical error in the form.

Wiseman instructed the jurors that they have to return to the jury deliberation room to answer the verdict form as to the conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. After five minutes, the jurors reached its decision as to the conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Assistant attorney general Rebecca Warfield, in an interview with the Saipan Tribune after the hearing, said the problem with cases like this is that, even if there is a guilty verdict, the victim isn’t whole anymore.

“ So it doesn’t cure the problem. We just hope that it is a deterrence. With [co-prosecutor assistant attorney general] Kristin St. Peter and I, we did the best that we could for [victim] Marvin Mendiola and his family and we believe the verdict was just,” Warfield said.

St. Peter said that, with the verdict, Sablan would probably spend the rest of his life in jail.

St. Peter said Mendiola is a wonderful young man. “And it’s nice now that he has the opportunity to get on with his life,” she added.

When asked about the motive for the attack on Mendiola, the prosecutor said it is hard to say, but stated that it could have been that Sablan’s co-defendant, James Ordillano, embarrassed himself and became angry.

St. Peter said Ordillano needed somebody to blame so as a result of his anger, he enlisted Sablan and they beat up Mendiola.

St. Peter said that prior to the beating, Sablan, Ordillano and Mendiola were hanging out drinking beer at the San Vicente baseball field.

Defense attorney Stephanie Flores, counsel for Sablan, said obviously the prosecution did their job.

“The system works which is supposed to work and the jury has decided. The jury made a review of the evidence and this was the conclusion that they came to and we respect that,” Flores said.

Delia Mendiola, mother of the victim, said she is very happy that they obtained justice.

Delia said she could not believe that Ordillano and Sablan could do that to her son because Ordillano once stayed at their house for one year.

On Wednesday, the 21-year-old Mendiola shed tears as he testified how he became a virtual prisoner of the defendants, who repeatedly beat him up in separate areas on Saipan in the evening of Aug. 5.

Mendiola recalled that, after the defendants beat him up and left him at the old airfield in Koblerville, he had crawled to the bushes where he lost consciousness.

The victim’s one ear was chopped off by the defendants. While he was sprawled on the ground, the defendants also hit him with his pick-up truck.

Ordinallo entered a plea agreement and pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison without the possibility of parole.