Jury trial set in attempted murder case

The Superior Court has set a June 25, 2012, jury trial for a 20-year-old man facing attempted first-degree murder charges in connection with a foiled robbery of two Chinese nationals in 2009.

Associate Judge David A. Wiseman ordered the parties in the case against Alfred Aldan Demapan to appear on June 6, 2012, to discuss trial preparation issues.

The Office of the Attorney General had charged Demapan with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault and battery, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery, conspiracy to commit robbery, and two counts of attempted robbery.

According to chief prosecutor Peter Prestley in the charging document, the attempted first-degree murder and attempted robbery occurred on Dec. 29, 2009, on Saipan. Prestley said that Demapan tried to kill Hu Cai during the robbery attempt by attacking him with a hammer.

Demapan allegedly attempted to rob Cai and Shu Zhou of their money. No other details were provided in court papers.