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Buckingham to high court: Sorry for late filing
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Posted on Aug 04 2011
Attorney General Edward T. Buckingham appeared yesterday in the CNMI Supreme Court to accept responsibility and express his apologies to the court for his office’s failure to file on time a response to an appeal in a criminal case.
“I humbly offer a sincere apology to the Court for these omissions, for the adverse impact they had on the administration of justice and for the time that this issue has taken away from other responsibilities of this Honorable Court,” Buckingham said.
Associate justice John Manglona presided over the hearing in the Supreme Court’s order for Buckingham to appear in court and explain why he should not be sanctioned.
The hearing was very brief as Buckingham had already filed a written response to the high court’s order to show cause. Chief Prosecutor Michael Ernest also attended the hearing as the high court had requested.
Manglona said he will issue a written order.
In the June 24, 2011, show-cause order, Manglona said that Buckingham was served with both the briefing schedule and appellant Simon A. Sebuu’s brief, and thus knew or should have known of the filing deadline.
According to court records, Sebuu appealed his convictions for theft and criminal mischief. On July 23, 2010, the high court issued the briefing schedule. Buckingham received service of all documents in this case, starting with the court’s briefing schedule.
Sebuu filed his opening brief on April 11, 2011. The OAG’s brief was due on or before May 11, 2011.
On June 3, 2011, the Supreme Court clerk of court notified the OAG that it had not filed a brief yet. On June 6, 2011, or 26 days after the filing deadline expired, the OAG submitted a motion to file an out-of-time brief. The motion was denied.
Buckingham said he accepts responsibility for the non-performance of the OAG in this matter and for his own omission. “I recognize the importance of the procedural deficiencies arising from this matter and commit to future improvement both for myself and the OAG.”
