A repeat offender from Palau who pleaded guilty to assaulting his girlfriend and threatening to kill her and her 2-year-old son was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison.<\/p>\n
Twenty-seven-year-old Lawson Santiago Renguul Jr. was sentenced to a total of four years imprisonment, all suspended except for two years, for three counts of assault and battery, and one count of unlawful contact.<\/p>\n
Besides threatening to kill her, he was accused of dragging, choking, and suffocating his girlfriend with a pillow at their apartment on Capital Hill. <\/p>\n
Renguul was given credit for time served. He was ordered to serve the two-year sentence without the possibility of parole.<\/p>\n
He was required to perform 200 hours of community service and complete counseling. He is also prohibited from having any contact with the victim and her son.<\/p>\n
Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho said the sentence is appropriate because Renguul hit his girlfriend in the presence of her child.<\/p>\n
Renguul, in defiance of a protection order, made contact with the victim, Camacho said. <\/p>\n
The judge did note that the victim was not seriously hurt and did not require medical treatment.<\/p>\n
In her statement, the victim said she and her son continue to suffer mentally, that Renguul had threatened to kill her son to prevent her from calling the police.<\/p>\n
Camacho gave weight to Renguul\u2019s prior criminal conviction in Palau. <\/p>\n
He noted that Renguul\u2019s own sister wrote a letter to the court to ask that Renguul not be sent back to Palau as he is a troublemaker and that there are no rehabilitation or counseling there.<\/p>\n
Renguul admitted to drinking alcohol every day, but denied using drugs.<\/p>\n
The judge deemed Renguul, a citizen of Palau, to be not a good candidate for rehabilitation.<\/p>\n
Camacho directed the clerk of court to provide the U.S. Department of Homeland Security-Immigration and Customs Enforcement a copy of the sentencing and commitment order. <\/p>\n
Assistant attorney general Betsy Weintraub recommended the maximum sentence of four years in prison. Chief Public Defender Douglas Hartig, counsel for Renguul, recommended a prison sentence of one year and probation.<\/p>\n
Hartig argued that Camacho mechanically imposes maximum sentences, which the judge denied. Citing records, he said Hartig exaggerates by \u201ccherry picking\u201d samples of Camacho\u2019s judgments and commitment orders.<\/p>\n
Renguul pleaded guilty to three counts of assault and battery-domestic violence, and one count of unlawful contact as part of a plea deal.<\/p>\n
The Office of the Attorney General first charged Renggul last Aug. 31 with six charges, which carry a maximum sentence of nine years in prison.<\/p>\n
Last Feb. 1, the OAG filed a fourth amended information containing four charges to reflect that count 4 assault and battery-domestic violence is a lesser-included offense for the charge of assault with a dangerous weapon. The charges still carry a maximum sentence of four years.<\/p>\n
Renguul has no prior convictions in the CNMI.<\/p>\n
According to the plea agreement, Renguul brandished and hit the victim in the stomach with a knife during their argument on Aug. 2, 2016.<\/p>\n
Renguul put his arm around the victim\u2019s neck and covered her nose and mouth on Aug. 18, 2016.<\/p>\n
Renguul was arrested on Aug 19, 2016. He was later released as police then did further investigation.<\/p>\n
After his release on Aug. 20, Renguul went to the victim\u2019s residence, located the victim in her car, jumped on the hood, and threatened to hurt her.<\/p>\n
Renguul entered the car and removed her son from the vehicle while she was on the phone with the police.<\/p>\n
Renguul attempted to communicate to the victim with the intent of encouraging her to drop the charges, or not cooperate with the investigation or prosecution of the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A repeat offender from Palau who pleaded guilty to assaulting his girlfriend and threatening to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[2626,8528,162,319],"class_list":["post-260891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","tag-attorney-general","tag-betsy-weintraub","tag-car","tag-palau"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260891","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=260891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260891\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}