Ogumoro: Request for Supreme Court to expedite decision defective

Former Department of Public Safety deputy commissioner Ambrosio T. Ogumoro has asked the CNMI Supreme Court to deny Superior Court Associate Judge David A. Wiseman’s request to expedite the issuance of a decision regarding his (Ogumoro) petition.

Ogumoro, through counsel Edward C. Arriola, moved the high court to deny Wiseman’s request for an order to forego oral arguments in this case.

Arriola asserted that Wiseman’s amicus request is procedurally defective because the trial court is not a party to this case and lacks standing.

Arriola said Wiseman has not sought a permission to request the Supreme Court to exercise its prerogative to issue an order without oral argument.

The lawyer also pointed out that the standards for dispensing with oral arguments have not been met.

Last month, Wiseman urged the Supreme Court to expedite the issuance of a decision regarding Ogumoro’s petition to restrain him (Wiseman) from presiding over Ogumoro’s pending criminal case.

Wiseman said Ogumoro’s petition has been pending in the Supreme Court for seven months now.

Wiseman asked the high court to exercise its prerogative to issue an order without oral argument pursuant to CNMI Supreme Court Rules.

Wiseman made such request in his amicus curiae participant’s filing.

An amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) is an entity who is not a party to the case.

Wiseman said a swift resolution to this matter is firmly within the public’s strong interest in ensuring a speedy trial, especially when it involves the criminal prosecution of a public official.

In Ogumoro’s response to Wiseman’s request, Arriola said the Supreme Court exercised its prerogative to hear oral argument when its clerk issued a notice of scheduled oral argument in this case.

“This, it seems that the amicus’ is requesting reconsideration of the panel’s decision to have an oral argument.

Citing a precedent case, Arriola said only an “intervening change of controlling law, the availability of new evidence, or the need to correct a clear error or prevent manifest of injustice” are sufficient grounds for reconsideration.

Arriola said Wiseman has not sought reconsideration from any of the foregoing grounds.

The Office of the Public Auditor charged Ogumoro with 15 criminal offenses for his role in, among other things, shielding then-attorney general Edward Buckingham from being served with penal summons in August 2012.

On Nov. 13, 2014, Ogumoro and the government filed a joint motion to stay all Superior Court proceedings in Ogumoro’s criminal felony prosecution until resolution of Ogumoro’s petition for writ of mandamus/prohibition.

In November 2014, the Supreme Court granted the stay and set the oral argument for Sept. 3, 2015.

Upon the high court’s invitation, Wiseman filed an amicus brief on Nov. 28, 2014.

Aside from Ogumoro, OPA also filed criminal charges against former governor Benigno R. Fitial, Fitial’s former personal driver and bodyguard Jermaine Joseph W. Nekaifes, Buckingham, former Commonwealth Ports police chief Jordan L. Kosam, and former police captain John T. Rebuenog.

Only the case against Ogumoro, Kosam, and Rebuenog are pending in court.

Fitial pleaded guilty, while Buckingham was convicted during a bench trial. The case against Nekaifes was dismissed.