{"id":204308,"date":"2015-06-16T06:00:04","date_gmt":"2015-06-15T20:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=204308"},"modified":"2015-06-16T06:00:04","modified_gmt":"2015-06-15T20:00:04","slug":"court-urged-to-expedite-decision-on-ogumoros-petition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/court-urged-to-expedite-decision-on-ogumoros-petition\/","title":{"rendered":"Court urged to expedite decision on Ogumoro\u2019s petition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Superior Court Associate Judge David A. Wiseman has urged the CNMI Supreme Court to expedite the issuance of a decision regarding the petition of former Department of Public Safety deputy commissioner Ambrosio T. Ogumoro to restrain him from presiding over Ogumoro\u2019s pending criminal case.<\/p>\n

\"Wiseman\"<\/a>
Wiseman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wiseman said Ogumoro\u2019s petition has been pending in the CNMI Supreme Court for close to seven months now.<\/p>\n

\u201cExtended delay to trial may infringe on the defendant\u2019s right to speedy trial under the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 4(d) of the Commonwealth Constitution,\u201d said the judge in his amicus curiae participant\u2019s request filed on Friday.<\/p>\n

In his request, Wiseman asked the high court to exercise its prerogative to issue an order without oral argument pursuant to CNMI Supreme Court Rules.<\/p>\n

An amicus curiae (\u201cfriend of the court\u201d) is an entity who is not a party to the case.<\/p>\n

Wiseman said a swift resolution to this matter is firmly within the public\u2019s strong interest in ensuring a speedy trial, especially when it involves the criminal prosecution of a public official.<\/p>\n

The Office of the Public Auditor charged Ogumoro with 15 criminal offenses for his role in, among other things, shielding then-attorney general Edward Buckingham from being served with penal summons in August 2012.<\/p>\n

On Nov. 13, 2014, Ogumoro and the government filed a joint motion to stay all Superior Court proceedings in Ogumoro\u2019s criminal felony prosecution until resolution of Ogumoro\u2019s petition for writ of mandamus\/prohibition.<\/p>\n

On Nov. 17, 2014, the Supreme Court granted the stay and set the petition for oral argument on Sept. 3, 2015 at 2pm.<\/p>\n

Upon the high court\u2019s invitation, Wiseman filed an amicus brief on Nov. 28, 2014.<\/p>\n

In his amicus brief, Wiseman asked the high court to deny Ogumoro\u2019s petition. The judge asserted, among other things, that Ogumoro \u201cdistorts the law, contorts the facts, and makes giant leaps\u201d in the hopes that the high court will grant him extraordinary relief.<\/p>\n

In his request to accelerate the currently set process, Wiseman cited that the high court in the Commonwealth versus Superior Court\u2019s case, held that there is a \u201cstrong interest in moving criminal proceedings without an unnecessary delay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wiseman said the high court ruled that this interest is especially pronounced for criminal prosecution of public officials, \u201cin whom the public entrusted its faith and confidence\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Wiseman noted that in the Commonwealth versus Superior Court case, the high court issued an order less than two months after a trial court\u2019s order was challenged.<\/p>\n

The judge said the high court may fulfill the standards set in its ruling in the Commonwealth versus Superior Court by issuing a decision on the litigants\u2019 briefs\u2014without oral argument.<\/p>\n

Ogumoro has another pending criminal case, charging him with misconduct in public office, theft by unlawful taking or disposition, and removal of government property. He pleaded not guilty of the charges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Superior Court Associate Judge David A. Wiseman has urged the CNMI Supreme Court to expedite…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":204310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[5400,2141,5307,88],"class_list":["post-204308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-edward-buckingham","tag-public-auditor","tag-sixth-amendment","tag-superior-court"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}