Man accused of beating son is found not guilty

A tour boat mechanic accused of beating up his 14-year-old son with tangan tangan wood and choking and kicking him was acquitted of all charges in Superior Court yesterday.

After deliberating for less than two hours, the six jurors reached a unanimous verdict, finding 39-year-old Jesse Billy Mailuw Jr. not guilty of child abuse.

Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho, who decided the misdemeanor charge, also found Mailuw not guilty of disturbing the peace.

After hearing the verdicts, Mailuw hugged his lawyers, assistant public defenders Eden Schwartz and Matthew Meyer.

Camacho said the government did not prove the crime of disturbing the peace beyond reasonable doubt.

“The law is very clear. A parent is allowed to spank a child for purposes of discipline as long as it is reasonable and in line with traditional and community standards,” the judge said.

Camacho found all of the prosecution’s six witnesses credible but pointed out that it is a strange situation when all of six prosecution witnesses, including two police officers, proved the case in favor of the defendant.

Mailuw did not call any witness.

Camacho said all the eyewitnesses had testified that Mailuw was disciplining his son.

Camacho said that piecing together the testimony of all witnesses, Mailuw works on a tour boat to support his wife and eight children.

“Mailuw and his wife hope that all their children do well in school and one day graduate from college,” he said.

The judge said the oldest son, the alleged victim in this case, has for the past year been a source of serious concern for his parents and siblings.

From his own words under oath, the alleged victim admitted that he has gotten into numerous fights, beaten and bullied two classmates who have physical disabilities, does not come home after school and sometimes stays out until the next day, and hangs out with older people who have criminal records for burglary and theft.

Camacho said the boy also admits that he has stolen things, drank alcohol, smoked marijuana, that he punched his younger sister in the mouth, has been suspended from school several times, disrespects his mother, and does not do house chores.

The judge said the boy agrees that his father repeatedly encouraged him to change, that his father loves him, that his father wants him to stay in school and not end up in prison.

Camacho said Mailuw found his son still hanging around with “bad friends” despite his instructions to go home and stay away from these people.

Camacho said that after a year of lecturing and talking to his son, Mailuw decided to use spanking to correct his son’s behavior.

Camacho said Mailuw never shouted or yelled, and used a two-foot branch to hit the son’s hands for stealing and fighting. Mailuw also hit the boy’s lower legs for breaking curfew and sneaking out of the house.

“There were a total of seven hits. No broken bone, open wounds. Only red marks on the skin that in a day or two will fade away,” Camacho noted.

Mailuw later told reporters he is very happy with his acquittal and thankful to his lawyers. He said the case has been very difficult for him because he was detained for two months and been away from his family for seven months.

“I’m just waiting for their approval for me to get back to my family and start all over again,” he said.

Schwartz said they’re very grateful to the jury for coming up with the right verdict.

“We’re also grateful to Mailuw’s family. His son is really a good kid…and just needs some guidance,” she said.

Assistant attorney general Clayton Graef refused to comment after the hearing. Assistant attorney general Shannon Folley assisted him at the trial.

In the government’s closing arguments, Graef said no one is disputing that the boy misbehaved and that there is a parental discipline privilege. Such privilege, however, has a limit—it has to be reasonable, Graef said.

Graef said what Mailuw did was not reasonable as the beating prompted an ambulance to take the boy for treatment of injuries.

In Mailuw’s closing arguments, Schwartz said it is a cultural standard in Chuukese culture that spanking is necessary to discipline misbehaving children. Citing the boy’s extensive misbehavior in school and at the house, Schwartz said Mailuw was disciplining him “because he’s too much.”

Jury selection was done on Tuesday. The government started calling in witnesses on Wednesday.

Police arrested Mailuw shortly after he allegedly beat up his son at their house in Koblerville on May 19, 2014.

Mailuw is the same person who was allegedly stabbed with a knife by Manuel Daniel Sablan Jr. after witnessing Sablan slashing the tires of a vehicle that was parked outside True North Bar & Grill in Garapan last September.