An inmate at the Department of Corrections for 18 years now has informed the federal court that a sketch that he drew to support his lawsuit about going blind in his left eye due to the negligence of prison officials was seized by a Corrections officer, allegedly because it was an escape plan.<\/p>\n
In his request Monday for the U.S. District Court for the NMI to appoint him lawyer for his lawsuit, Reynaldo A. Manila disclosed that he asked a DOC section officer last Wednesday, Aug. 14, to make a photocopy of a sketch of his (Manila) assignment area during the term of then-DOC commissioner Robert Guerrero.<\/p>\n
Manila said a shift commander confiscated his drawing as it is allegedly against DOC policy as he may use it as an escape plan.<\/p>\n
Manila said he explained to the shift commander that he did not draw from the blueprint but drew it based on his familiarity with the area of his assignment.<\/p>\n
He said he further explained that he will use the drawing as evidence to support his claims in his lawsuit.<\/p>\n
Manila said he is not stupid to submit the drawing to the court for the purpose of escaping.<\/p>\n
Manila said that a few hours later, a Corrections officer confiscated his pen, pencil, highlight marker, ruler, and dictionary that he used to work on his case.<\/p>\n
He said the Corrections officer told him that if he wanted to get back the items, he needs to make a request to DOC director Georgia Cabrera.<\/p>\n
Manila also stated that he was allowed access to a computer for legal research, but he could not use the computer last Aug. 9 because the internet cable was missing. He said the shift commander told him he has no idea who stole the internet cable.<\/p>\n
Manila asked the court to appoint a lawyer for him as he is having pain in both eyes.<\/p>\n
Manila is suing Guerrero and two other officials over the blindness of his left eye.<\/p>\n
Recently, U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona denied a motion to dismiss Manila\u2019s lawsuit. <\/p>\n
Guerrero, who is currently the Department of Public Safety commissioner, was the DOC commissioner when Manila was diagnosed with retinal detachment in the left eye.<\/p>\n
Manila sued Guerrero and DOC officials Cabrera and Jose K. Pangelinan in their personal capacity for alleged violations of his Eight Amendment right to adequate medical care.<\/p>\n
Cabrera used to serve as DOC commissioner, while Pangelinan served as acting DOC commissioner when Guerrero was transferred to DPS. Cabrera and Pangelinan are still DOC officials.<\/p>\n
Manila has no lawyer. <\/p>\n
In Guerrero\u2019s defense to Manila\u2019s lawsuit, the Office of the Attorney General asserted that Manila\u2019s injuries, if any, were caused by the malpractice of his treating professionals.<\/p>\n
OAG Civil Division chief Christopher M. Timmons, said Guerrero did not violate any of Manila\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n
Timmons said Guerrero has qualified immunity from suit. <\/p>\n
Manila was 39 years old when the Superior Court sentenced him in June 2002 to 60 years in prison for second degree murder over the death of his 6-month old goddaughter in November 2000.<\/p>\n
Manila is now 57 years old.<\/p>\n
Then-chief prosecutor Clyde Lemons said the doctor testified that the baby had died after being shaken \u201cvery hard,\u201d consistent with shaken baby syndrome.<\/p>\n
Up to now, Manila insists he did not kill the child.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An inmate at the Department of Corrections for 18 years now has informed the federal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-306443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306443","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=306443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306443\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}