The federal court granted yesterday the second request of alleged pimp Annette N. Basa to move her jury trial to another date. <\/p>\n
U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona set Basa\u2019s new trial date to March 17, 2014.<\/p>\n
Manglona said she finds that the ends of justice require a further continuance to allow Basa time to prepare adequately for trial \u201cin this complex and unusual case.\u201d<\/p>\n
The judge noted that the U.S. government already disclosed more than 1,500 pages of documents, and more may yet be forthcoming.<\/p>\n
Manglona said the U.S. government recently seized cell phones in the course of related prosecutions and these items are now undergoing forensic analysis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese searches may uncover further information that would have to be disclosed to defense counsel\u201d Steven Pixley, Manglona said.<\/p>\n
She said Pixley needs more time to complete the interviews of some of key witnesses.<\/p>\n
Assistant U.S attorney Rami Badawy did not object to the continuance. <\/p>\n
Last Oct. 14, Manglona granted Basa\u2019s first request to continue the trial to Jan. 27, 2014, on ends-of-justice grounds. The original trial date was Oct. 28, 2013. <\/p>\n
Basa and co-defendant Richard S. Benavente have both pleaded not guilty to the charges of engaging in sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of two minors. <\/p>\n
According to the indictment, Benavente persuaded the two girls to have sex and recorded the incident using a cell phone. This allegedly happened twice.<\/p>\n
The indictment alleged that on April 1, 2013, Basa recruited and enticed the two girls to engage in \u201ccommercial sex act.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent alleged that Benavente took videos of himself having sex with two 15-year-old girls. Basa allegedly offered the girls to the firefighter in exchange for methamphetamine or \u201cice\u201d and unspecified amount of money. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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