{"id":403109,"date":"2023-12-20T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=403109"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Torres-motion-for-declaratory-relief-deemed-moot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Torres-motion-for-declaratory-relief-deemed-moot\/","title":{"rendered":"Torres\u2019 motion for declaratory relief deemed moot"},"content":{"rendered":"

The parties involved in the ongoing criminal case against former governor Ralph DLG Torres have agreed that Torres\u2019 motion for declaratory relief to prevent former special prosecutor James Kingman from prosecuting the case is now moot.<\/p>\n

During a motion hearing last Monday before Superior Court judge pro tem Arthur Barcinas, the parties in the criminal case against Torres agreed that the former governor\u2019s request for declaratory relief preventing Kingman from prosecuting him is now moot because Kingman has now been sworn in as an assistant attorney general.<\/p>\n

Torres\u2019 lawyer, Viola Alepuyo, explained that the defense initially sought to prevent Kingman from prosecuting this case as a special prosecutor, but that no longer applies since Kingman is now a full-fledged AAG.<\/p>\n

According to the motion for declaratory relief, Torres said the court should prevent Kingman from prosecuting the case because Kingman\u2019s contract with the attorney general is invalid and unlawful.<\/p>\n

Torres explained this is because the attorney general lacks the authority to appoint and hire a special prosecutor for the misconduct in public office case filed against the former governor relating to first class travel.<\/p>\n

Kingman, for his part, had argued that Torres\u2019 motion was then and remains improper because, since the motion was filed, the Supreme Court has ruled that the contract at issue was terminated as the special prosecutor and the attorney general moved from a legal services contract to an employment contract.<\/p>\n

The parties agreed on this point during last Monday\u2019s hearing.<\/p>\n

Kingman was hired back in March for the sole purpose of prosecuting Torres\u2019 criminal case that\u2019s pending in Superior Court.<\/p>\n

Kingman\u2019s initial contract with the OAG was set to expire by the end of this year, but it\u2019s believed that he was appointed as an AAG so that he can continue to serve as the head prosecutor for Torres\u2019 case, which remains without a trial date.<\/p>\n

After Kingman\u2019s appointment, Torres\u2019 defense team raised questions about his appointment, such as why Kingman\u2019s salary is higher than that of the chief prosecutor for the OAG\u2019s Criminal Division, why was Kingman not hired as an AAG to begin with, and more.<\/p>\n

Torres\u2019 defense team says the OAG should also explain to the public why it is paying Kingman so much, specifically $85,000 annually.<\/p>\n

Overall, Torres\u2019 defense team was not in favor of the OAG\u2019s conduct concerning Kingman\u2019s appointment.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Former governor Ralph DLG Torres as he leaves a Superior Court courtroom following one of his hearing in his ongoing criminal case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

-KIMBERLY B. ESMORES
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The parties involved in the ongoing criminal case against former governor Ralph DLG Torres have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-403109","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\/403109","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}