The Office of the Public Defender said the CNMI Drug Enforcement Task Force\u2019s \u201cconfidential source\u201d was paid $700 for his role in a sting operation against a man now being charged with trafficking methamphetamine.<\/p>\n
That $700, which assistant public defender Stephanie Boutsicaris described as a large sum of for perhaps a few hours\u2019 worth of work, is a huge motivator for the \u201cconfidential source.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boutsicaris, who is counsel for defendant Xiao Ping Wang, said that large amount creates a strong incentive for the \u201cconfidential source\u201d to please the police in order to keep these funds coming into his pockets.<\/p>\n
Boutsicaris gave this argument in Wang\u2019s motion to compel the Office of the Attorney General or any law enforcement agencies in the CNMI to provide Wang with some materials that are in their possession and are relevant to this case.<\/p>\n
The materials that Wang is asking for include any communications between law enforcers and the \u201cconfidential source\u201d to negotiate an agreement for services or to negotiate the price of services.<\/p>\n
The defendant sought a copy of any agreements to pay the \u201cconfidential source\u201d for future events in his case, such as a promise to pay the \u201cconfidential source\u201d for testimony or a promise to pay the \u201cconfidential source\u201d if a conviction is obtained.<\/p>\n
Wang also sought information on any other payments made by law enforcers to the \u201cconfidential source\u201d for other cases, if there is any.<\/p>\n
Boutsicaris said the requested evidence and information are material to Wang\u2019s defense, and that disclosure would be neither unreasonable nor oppressive to the government, but will facilitate a fair, efficient, and just disposition of the charges against him.<\/p>\n
Boutsicaris said that, between December 2018 and February 2019, Wang is alleged to have committed three counts of trafficking methamphetamine.<\/p>\n
The lawyer said two of these charges result from the Drug Enforcement Task Force\u2019s sting operations in which the \u201cconfidential source\u201d was used.<\/p>\n
Boutsicaris said all of the requested information would be exculpatory and material to Wang\u2019s case because the requested materials will be necessary to impeach the \u201cconfidential source\u201d at trial, as well as potential evidentiary hearings.<\/p>\n
Boutsicaris said the information regarding compensation on other cases is also necessary to demonstrate the \u201cconfidential source\u2019s\u201d motivations.<\/p>\n
\u201cA confidential source getting a steady income from law enforcement officers will have an even stronger incentive to not contradict law enforcement officers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
If being paid $700 is a strong motivator, any multiple of such a number will be an increasingly greater motivator for the \u201cconfidential source,\u201d Boutsicaris said.<\/p>\n
This information, she added, will be extremely helpful in demonstrating the \u201cconfidential source\u2019s\u201d bias.<\/p>\n
Drug Enforcement Task Force arrested Wang on Capital Hill on Feb. 22, 2019, on three counts of trafficking a controlled substance for allegedly selling \u201cice\u201d to the \u201cconfidential source\u201d during sting operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Office of the Public Defender said the CNMI Drug Enforcement Task Force\u2019s \u201cconfidential source\u201d…<\/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":[2151,3396],"class_list":["post-311079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","tag-dea","tag-opd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311079","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=311079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311079\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}