Roberto’s witness gets 46-month prison term for lying at trial

Randy A. Igisomar, an inmate who is in prison for the murder of a school security guard, was slapped on Friday with an additional 46-month sentence for lying during the jury trial of Raymond B. Roberto.

The new sentence will be on top of the 22-year sentence he got in the murder case.

After completing his prison term in the murder case, Igisomar will be transferred to federal officials to start serving his 46-month sentence. After completing his prison term at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, Igisomar will be placed on three years of supervised release.

U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona said that Igisomar has now committed two crimes.

“It’s up to you to make a difference,” Manglona told Igisomar. “I want you to succeed.”

While in prison, Igisomar can do a lot of positive things, Manglona said, starting with the basics by doing positive things on small things.

“You show them you are a changed man,” the judge said, referring to the family of the Marianas High School security guard that Igisomar killed.

Assistant U.S. attorney Garth Backe had recommended a 37-month prison term, citing Igisomar’s immediate admission to lying at the Roberto trial.

Attorney Robert T. Torres, counsel for Igisomar, recommended the same prison term, which is the low end of the sentencing guidelines and pursuant to the plea agreement.

“I believe that, having considered everything, justice was done,” Torres later said in an interview.

He said what is important is the court also made judicial recommendations considering Igisomar’s history and characteristics and the seriousness of the offenses both in the local case and the Roberto case.

Torres said Manglona made the recommendations for rehabilitation, treatment and care, and vocational skills while in U.S. Bureau of Prisons “because those are not available here and hopefully someday that will be available for every defendants or detainee.”

Torres said he recommended 37 months in prison, but the court saw it differently in terms of the impact of Igisomar’s testimony in the Roberto case.

“While I may take a different view, I respect the court’s decision and wish that Randy have the best of luck,” he said.

When asked why Igisomar lied during Roberto’s trial, Torres said, “That remains unanswered.”

Igisomar pleaded guilty to perjury in November 2014. Perjury carries a maximum penalty of a five-year prison term, a $250,000 fine, and a three-year supervised release.

According to the factual basis of the plea deal, Igisomar testified under oath before a federal grand jury on May 6, 2014, that he had heard Roberto—then a defendant in a criminal case—instruct a potential witness to destroy evidence. It was material to the grand jury whether or not Roberto gave that instruction.

Igisomar then changed his testimony in the federal criminal trial of Roberto. On Sept. 10, 2014, he testified that he did not hear Roberto instruct a potential witness in that case to destroy certain evidence.

These sworn statements are irreconcilably contradictory, such that one of them is false, according to the plea agreement.

The indictment also charged Igisomar with obstruction of justice and false statement. Manglona dismissed the charges on Friday as part of the plea deal.

Igisomar was one of three men who bludgeoned to death a school security guard in 2008, burglarized the school, and stole some laptops and other items. He was slapped with a 22-year prison term.

In September 2014, a federal court jury acquitted the 41-year-old Roberto of all charges that he enticed three minors to engage in prostitution and tampered with a witness while in jail.

Roberto’s other witness, former firefighter Richard S. Benavente, was also charged with three counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice for also allegedly lying during Roberto’s trial. Manglona determined that Benavente lied in his testimony.