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Judge says public defender misled the court
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Posted on Aug 13 2008
CNMI Superior Court Associate Judge Kenneth Govendo said that Public Defender Richard Miller committed “fraud on the court” by withholding a restitution claim stemming from a traffic infraction.
In his decision, Govendo said Miller’s silence when asked about the claim “allowed the court to be misled as to [Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s] restitution claim” and “was a fraud upon the court.”
During a May 20 restitution hearing, the Commonwealth as the plaintiff reported it had not received restitution information from the victim, CUC. The court had previously ordered CUC to submit a restitution claim on or before April 21.
“The court, relying on the mistaken belief that the CUC had not delivered a restitution claim to either part, determined that no restitution would be awarded in this matter,” the order stated.
The matter was taken off the court calendar because of the expiration of probation on June 3.
On May 22, the Commonwealth filed a notice and motion to schedule a restitution and review hearing. In the notice, the Commonwealth included a copy of a date-stamped CUC claim for restitution that had been received by the Office of the Public Defender on May 8. A review hearing was held on June 3 and continued to July 16, before it was continued again to Aug. 27.
On July 23, the court learned CUC’s written claim for restitution had been in the possession of defendant’s lawyer at the May 20 restitution hearing.
“This silence as the court inquired as to the status of the CUC’s claim was a violation of counsel’s duty of candor to the court,” Govendo wrote.
Due to the fraud, the court’s decision not to award restitution is void, the order stated.
According to the order, the court accepted Miller’s apology for his conduct at the May 20 hearing.
On Tuesday, Miller said he disagreed with Govendo’s conclusion.
“I didn’t perpetrate any fraud on the court,” he said.
