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King to present more issues in Crisostomo appeal
Attorney Janet H. King has disclosed that she intends to present more issues in the appeal of her client, Joseph Acosta Crisostomo, a habitual offender who is serving life imprisonment for kidnapping, raping, killing, and robbing bartender Emerita R. Romerto.
In court papers she submitted to the Superior Court yesterday, King listed eight issues that, according to her, she plans to present on appeal to the CNMI Supreme Court.
King previously notified the court about four issues in Crisostomo’s appeal.
Crisostomo is seeking to reverse Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho’s judgment of conviction on April 28, 2014, and sentencing order on May 28, 2014, and two pretrial orders.
In the list that she submitted yesterday, King disclosed that she intends to present on appeal six more issues in addition to two-pre-trial orders.
King said the issues are Camacho’s denial of Crisostomo’s motion to use a written juror questionnaire; Camacho’s denial of Crisostomo’s motion to suppress footprint evidence and admission of the footprints and any expert analysis comparing the footprints to any other evidence.
King said other issues are Camacho’s denial of Crisostomo’s motion to suppress evidence of a water bottle that was tested for the defendant’s DNA following its seizure by the FBI at the Department of Corrections; Camacho’s ruling that allowed the testimony of IT&E’s James Calderwood’s opinion as to the phone call detail records; and the judge’s denial of Crisostomo’s proposed DNA forensic expert from testifying at trial.
King said she may raise other issues that may arise after a review of the transcripts of the proceedings.
Crisostomo, 41, is currently appealing two other sentences he is serving in two criminal cases.
In Romero’s case, a jury returned a guilty verdict against Crisostomo on the charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, sexual assault in the first degree, and robbery. Camacho found him guilty of assault and battery, and disturbing the peace.
Romero, 37, was last seen boarding a car near her house in Garapan in the early morning of Feb. 5, 2012. Two days later, FBI agents found her body in a small room at an abandoned La Fiesta Mall in San Roque/As Matuis.
