The six jurors began deliberations yesterday afternoon in the jury trial of Joseph A. Crisostomo, a 40-year-old habitual offender accused of kidnapping, raping, killing, and robbing bartender Emerita \u201cEmie\u201d R. Romero on Feb. 5, 2012.
\nThe jurors were excused late yesterday at 5:50pm and were ordered to return today, Thursday, at 8:15am to continue deliberations.<\/p>\n
The deliberations started shortly after the prosecution and the defense counsel completed their closing arguments and Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho gave the jury instructions.<\/p>\n
In the government\u2019s closing arguments, assistant attorney general Margo Brown-Badawy said the mass of evidence they have presented proves beyond reasonable doubt that the only verdict the jury must come up with is guilty.<\/p>\n
In wrapping up the government\u2019s closing arguments, Brown-Badawy and interim chief prosecutor Brian Flaherty again played the harrowing 911 call recording where Romero is heard crying, screaming, and begging for her life, while a male voice that witnesses identified as Crisostomo could be heard saying \u201csorry\u201d and \u201ccalm down.\u201d<\/p>\n
In her closing arguments, defense attorney Janet H. King said that Romero\u2019s murder remains unsolved and that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. She urged the jurors to look at all the evidence and come up with only one verdict\u2014not guilty.<\/p>\n
The courtroom was jam-packed yesterday, filled mostly with lawyers and police officers. The benches behind the prosecution were fully occupied. Romero\u2019s younger sister, Estrelita Relata, Godfather\u2019s Bar owners Scott Dottino and Ron Biggers, and some of Romero\u2019s friends were present. Attorney General Joey San Nicolas also watched the arguments.<\/p>\n
Behind the defense\u2019s table were Crisostomo\u2019s sister, Annie, his other sister and a sister-in-law, some lawyers, and law enforcers.<\/p>\n
The jurors will decide the charges of first-degree murder or the lesser included offense of second-degree murder, kidnapping, sexual assault in the first-degree, and robbery.<\/p>\n
Camacho will decide the misdemeanor charges of assault and battery and disturbing the peace.<\/p>\n
In the government\u2019s closing arguments, Brown-Badawy said that Romero was at the wrong place, in the wrong car, at the wrong time.<\/p>\n
Because of that, Brown-Badawy said that Romero, a mother of two, was kidnapped, brutally murdered, and robbed by Crisostomo, who was just looking for a victim in the early morning hours of Feb. 5, 2012, in Garapan.<\/p>\n
She said the evidence showed that Crisostomo raped Romero, strangled her with a pair of leggings, and discarded her body like garbage to rot in a small room at the abandoned La Fiesta Mall.<\/p>\n
Brown-Badawy said Romero could have been anybody else in the community, whether someone\u2019s sister, friend, or relative.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be at the wrong place at the wrong time is something that anybody is scared of,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Brown-Badawy then played a brief portion of the 911 call, in which Romero could be heard crying and begging to be freed. The prosecutor said the 911 call showed just how terrified Romero was as she begged for her life.<\/p>\n
Brown-Badawy said the phone records show that on Feb. 5, 2012, at 2:48 am, Romero called a taxi driver because she wanted to proceed to the house of her boyfriend, Taj Van Buuren, in Chalan Piao.<\/p>\n
At 2:55am, the taxi driver called Romero, asking her where she was because he was already there to pick her up. The victim replied that she already got into the taxicab, Brown-Badawy said.<\/p>\n
At 2:57am, Romero realized she was in a wrong car, called the taxi driver back, and asked what\u2019s his telephone number.<\/p>\n
At 2:58:17 Romero called the taxi driver again. It was this call when the driver heard that something happened to Romero in the car. Five minutes later, Romero called 911.<\/p>\n
Brown-Badawy said that police officer Sandy Hambros and other police officers searched for Romero at Mariana Resort and in Marpi but could not find her.<\/p>\n
Brown-Badawy said that at 6am, Crisostomo, using Alicia Kintaro\u2019s cellphone, called Kintaro at her home after dumping the victim\u2019s body at La Fiesta, asking her to pick up his sister, Annie, Annie\u2019s boyfriend Cheyenne Sablan, and Albert Deleon Guerrero at Piano\u2019s Poker in Garapan. Crisostomo reportedly told Kintaro that he could not pick up the three as he was busy.<\/p>\n
Brown-Badawy said that Crisostomo was \u201cindeed busy\u201d getting rid of Romero\u2019s body at that time.<\/p>\n
The phone records show that when the 6am call was made, the originating tower cell was at the Palms Resort, which is right across La Fiesta Mall, according to Brown-Badawy.<\/p>\n
On Feb. 7, 2012, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents found Romero\u2019s body at La Fiesta Mall.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor said that on Feb. 10, 2012, investigators played the 911 call and police detective Roque Camacho, who was just talking with Crisostomo three hours earlier, identified the male voice in the recording as Crisostomo.<\/p>\n
Brown-Badawy said that detective Elias Saralu, who also listened to the 911 call, was 100 percent sure the voice was that of Crisostomo, who worked with them for several years as a confidential informant.<\/p>\n
Brown-Badawy said that investigators also played the 911 recording for Joanne Castro, who was Crisostomo\u2019s common-law wife for 17 years.<\/p>\n
She said Castro was disgusted and had goose bumps all over her body after identifying Crisostomo\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor urged the jury to look at all the evidence: hair, footprints, DNA, 911 call, and Crisostomo\u2019s own words.<\/p>\n
Brown-Badawy said that a hair strand recovered from the front passenger side seat of a rental car that Crisostomo was driving between Feb. 4 and 5, 2012, matched Romero\u2019s DNA. This tells that Romero was in that car, she said.<\/p>\n
She also cited the fibers found in the car that matched the murder weapon\u2014the ligature or leggings, and Romero\u2019s zorie or sandals.<\/p>\n
On the footprint impression that FBI agents collected from La Fiesta Mall, Brown-Badawy said the tests showed a high level of association between Crisostomo\u2019s barefoot prints and the footprint impressions taken from La Fiesta. She said all five footprints that were analyzed matched with Crisostomo\u2019s barefoot prints.<\/p>\n
Citing DNA evidence, Brown-Badawy said that Crisostomo\u2019s semen was found in Romero\u2019s vagina. She said that based on FBI forensic examiner Susanna Kehl\u2019s calculations, the chance that Crisostomo\u2019s DNA would match another Chamorro is one in 960 million. That will take some 22,000 Saipan islands to find Crisostomo\u2019s DNA match, she added.<\/p>\n
Brown-Badawy said that Romero was clearly raped as shown in the 911 call where she was screaming and begging for her life.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor also cited Crisostomo\u2019s own words to Department of Corrections Commissioner Ramon C. Mafnas, when he admitted that he was in the same spot in Garapan where Romero was last seen boarding a car.<\/p>\n
Brown-Badawy said that Romero\u2019s lifeline, a Blackberry Torch cell phone, was never recovered.<\/p>\n
Brown-Badawy said all the evidence\u2014hair, fibers, barefoot prints, DNA, his own words he was in the same spot, and that he does not know Romero\u2014show that Crisostomo is guilty beyond reasonable doubt.<\/p>\n
In her closing arguments, King said law enforcers ignored the evidence because they already had a target\u2014Crisostomo.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis murder is still unsolved. That is a tragedy. That is the fact in this case,\u201d King said.<\/p>\n
She said this is a case where police and the FBI rushed to judgment on one man.<\/p>\n
King said it was Joanne Castro, Crisostomo\u2019s estranged common-law wife, who gave the police tips about the rental car. She pointed out that Castro later called the Office of the Attorney General, Bridge Capital, and Godfather\u2019s Bar to ask about the $22,500 cash reward.<\/p>\n
\u201c$22,500 to say that Crisostomo\u2019s voice was in that 911 call. It\u2019s a reasonable doubt,\u201d the lawyer said.<\/p>\n
On the footprints findings, King said the expert concluded that there\u2019s a high degree of association to Crisostomo but that the barefoot prints cannot be identified as Crisostomo\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is reasonable doubt,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
On hair and fibers, King said the FBI physical examiner concluded that the hair type is Mongoloid but cannot say the hair examination constitute personal identification of Romero.<\/p>\n
On the fibers, King said the examiner could only say it\u2019s similar to the leggings and zories or sandals.<\/p>\n
King said that DOC\u2019s Mafnas testified that he interviewed Crisostomo at his office, but the conversation was recorded, unknown to the suspect.<\/p>\n
King said there was no testimony or evidence showing where Romero and Crisostomo were on Feb. 3 and 4, 2012.<\/p>\n
King said that Romero, a mother of two, is not on trial but that she also had a secret life, which includes Van Buuren as her boyfriend.<\/p>\n
The lawyer pointed out that a hair sample of Caucasian characteristics was found in Romero\u2019s panty liner.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid they interview men in preposition ships that come here over the weekend?\u201d King asked.<\/p>\n
In her rebuttal, Brown-Badawy said that Crisostomo\u2019s sperm was found in Romero\u2019s vagina.<\/p>\n
On the tire marks that were found of no value to the investigation, Brown-Badawy said this is so because the areas where the tire tracks were found are public places where hundreds of vehicles pass by.<\/p>\n
Brown-Badawy said there was no rush to the investigation and that it\u2019s not true that only Crisostomo was the target because in fact the first suspects were Van Buuren and the taxi driver.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the evidence there linked to the defendant,\u201d said the prosecutor, pointing to a table filled with documents and items.<\/p>\n
In the conclusion of her rebuttal, Brown-Badawy and Flaherty played the 911 recording again. In it, Romero is crying, begging someone not to hurt her. The male voice could be heard saying, \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d Romero then screamed on top of her lungs \u201cPlease help me! Help me!\u201d<\/p>\n
At this juncture, Romero\u2019s sister, who was in the courtroom, started crying. Other people in the courtroom were also seen wiping their tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was screaming for her life. She was terrified,\u201d Brown-Badawy said.<\/p>\n
The defense rested its case yesterday morning after Camacho ruled that Dr. David Haymer, who is a professor of cell and molecular biology at the University of Hawaii is not qualified as an expert in forensic DNA analysis.<\/p>\n
King did not move for a judgment of acquittal. After the prosecution rested on Tuesday, King also did not move for judgment of acquittal.<\/p>\n
King also announced that she is withdrawing her subpoena for Delegate Gregorio \u201cKilili\u201d Sablan (Ind-MP).<\/p>\n
Camacho said Haymer is well versed in general DNA, but that the court is not convinced he is qualified as an expert in forensic DNA examination.<\/p>\n
The judge noted that Haymer\u2019s experience, education, and training mostly dealt with the DNA of bugs and insects.<\/p>\n
At a hearing to determine whether he is qualified to be an expert in forensic DNA examinations, Haymer who appeared via Skype, pointed out that he never claimed to be a forensic analyst.<\/p>\n
Haymer also stated he does not dispute that Kehl followed FBI protocol and procedures in conducting DNA tests in Romero\u2019s case.<\/p>\n
Brown-Badawy said there is nothing in Haymer to assist the trier of facts in this case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The six jurors began deliberations yesterday afternoon in the jury trial of Joseph A. Crisostomo,…<\/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":[162,178,21,368],"class_list":["post-33245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-car","tag-fbi","tag-life","tag-mariana-resort"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33245","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=33245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33245\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}