Pua gets 50 years for murder

The Superior Court imposed a 50-year prison sentence on Francisco Aguon Pua yesterday for the murder of a poker attendant in Tanapag.

“This court finds that the crime committed was reckless and was incredibly, incredibly unwarranted,” said Associate Judge Juan T. Lizama during the sentencing.

Lizama sentenced Pua to 55 years in prison, five years of which were suspended, for murder in the first degree.

Pua was given credit for the time he had already served in jail after his arrest.

The judge also ordered the defendant to pay $1,000 fine plus restitution to the family of victim Mostafa Paruk Parves.

Lizama gave the Attorney General’s Office one year to submit in court the restitution request.

After serving 18 years and three months in prison, Pua will be eligible to apply for parole.

“As I have explained it already, Mr. Pua, there is a problem I see but it does not rise to a level requiring that you should be sentenced less than 55 years. So this is the appropriate sentence,” Lizama said.

“You come from a big family. You have everything. …When a person comes from a big family, that person has more to go to and more to turn to when you are in need of help. I do not understand why you did not use your big family to help you before committing this crime,” the judge said.

Pua remained calm when the sentence was announced. He did not issue any statement before and after the hearing.

His attorney, Edward Arriola Sr., told the [I]Saipan Tribune[/I] that they would “definitely appeal” the case to the CNMI Supreme Court.

“The most important thing set here is that there was no linkage between the crime and poker. So therefore if there is no linkage between the crime and poker then there can be no evidence whatsoever of the crime of robbery or attempted robbery,” Arriola pointed out.

Deputy attorney general Gregory Baka said it was a fair sentence.

“I think the judge did a good consideration of all the factors relevant to sentencing,” Baka said.

The government lawyer recommended a sentence of 60 years citing the need for deterrence, the impact on the peaceful society and the poker industry, and the gravity of the conduct and wounds inflicted on the victim.

Police and court records show that on the morning of May 22, 2002, the body of Parves was found inside Candi’s Poker in Tanapag with multiple stab wounds. After reviewing a surveillance video and interviewing local residents, detectives identified Pua as the primary suspect.

In August 2006, the jury found Pua guilty of murder in the first degree. The jurors, however, acquitted him of robbery.