A Superior Court jury on Rota handed down a not guilty verdict yesterday against former Rota Finance Procurement and Supply acting administrator Tilford S. Toves.<\/p>\n
Saipan Tribune learned that after deliberating since Wednesday night, the six jurors reached a unanimous verdict yesterday at 2:45pm, finding Toves not guilty of conspiracy to commit trafficking of a controlled substance.<\/p>\n
Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho, who decided on the misdemeanor charge, also found the defendant not guilty of attempted illegal possession of controlled substance.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Toves, you are now a free man,\u201d Camacho told the defendant.<\/p>\n
Toves burst into tears after hearing the verdict. His family members clapped and cried in jubilation.<\/p>\n
Before rendering his verdict on the charge of attempted illegal possession of a controlled substance, Camacho discussed the evidence presented during the four-day trial.<\/p>\n
Camacho said that based on the evidence presented in court, the government\u2019s case against Toves appeared doomed from the start.<\/p>\n
Camacho found the authorities\u2019 informant, a Northern Marianas College employee, not credible.<\/p>\n
The judge said the NMC employee claims that Toves, whom he does not know very well, just called him out of the blue and asked him to hand-carry \u201cice\u201d to Rota.<\/p>\n
Camacho said that, in December 2014, then-chief prosecutor Brian Flaherty filed an amended information containing the charges in this trial.<\/p>\n
Camacho said that Chief Prosecutor Leonardo Rapadas was put in a very difficult position to prove a crime that was incorrectly charged.<\/p>\n
The judge noted that Rota Department of Public Safety police officer Francis Manglona testified that Toves never touched or even tried to reach for the \u201cice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Camacho said the video taken from Manglona\u2019s phone clearly shows that Toves had his hands in his pocket, and at one point handed his cellphone to a Rota Resort employee and then to Berlinda Flawau.<\/p>\n
Camacho said Toves never made any physical movement to possess the \u201cice\u201d at the Rota airport.<\/p>\n
The judge pointed out that what is clearly on the record is that the NMC employee was asked by Toves to hand-carry the \u201cice\u201d from Saipan to Rota.<\/p>\n
Camacho said that Toves\u2019 unredacted confession shows that he asked the NMC employee to hand-carry the \u201cice\u201d from Saipan to Rota.<\/p>\n
He said even the video at the Rota airport shows that Toves was asking the Rota Resort staff to talk to Flawau to give him (Toves) the package containing the \u201cice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll these are evidence of the crime of solicitation. It is not the crime of attempt. There is a difference,\u201d the judge pointed out.<\/p>\n
Camacho said if the Office of the Attorney General had charged Toves with the crime of solicitation of the illegal possession of a controlled substance, the court would be convinced that the prosecution has proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.<\/p>\n
Camacho said because then-chief prosecutor Flaherty incorrectly filed the crime of attempt, the court finds that the government has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that that crime occurred.<\/p>\n
The trial began on Monday. Rapadas called 10 witnesses. Assistant public defender Matthew Meyer, counsel for Toves, did not call any witness.<\/p>\n
After the prosecution rested its case on Wednesday, Camacho granted Meyer\u2019s motion to acquit Toves on a charge of restricted use of government vehicle.<\/p>\n
Police officers arrested Toves and then-Commonwealth Health Center administrative staff Berlinda Flawau in June 2014 for alleged conspiracy to commit trafficking of \u201cice\u201d on Rota.<\/p>\n
The two\u2019s arrest came about after police discovered, through a confidential source, that Flawau allegedly sent a package that contained 20 baggies of \u201cice\u201d from Saipan to Toves on Rota on June 11, 2014. Officers allegedly seized $1,000 worth of \u201cice\u201d during the operation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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