Navy vet testifies how he was assaulted

In the ongoing jury trial of David James Aguon, Navy veteran Christopher Broome told the court yesterday about how he was assaulted at the White and Black Bar in Garapan in March 2016.

This developed as Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho, who is presiding over the trial, struck down yesterday police detective Flora Aguon’s identification of the suspect by his weight.

Camacho said that the officer’s identification of Aguon was made in the presence of the jury, and the jury must again be instructed to disregard the identification.

Flora Aguon is the government’s first witness in the case.

Last week, Camacho said that assistant attorney general Betsy Weintraub committed prosecutorial misconduct by deliberately disobeying the court’s suppression order.

Specifically, Camacho determined that, by asking Flora Aguon about the weight of the attacker, then asking her to estimate the suspect’s weight, and then asking that the record reflect that the individual pointed out the suspect, Weintraub had circumvented the court’s suppression order to have the detective identify the suspect as the attacker.

At defense attorney Matthew Holley’s cross-examination yesterday, Broome, 53, said he drank about two to three beers from another bar in Garapan that night of March 5, 2016, before going to the White and Black Bar.

Broome said he and some friends then walked to the White and Black Bar, where he consumed four or five beers.

Inside the bar, Broome said someone hit him in the face, but he had no idea who because the punch came from the “blind side.”

The punch allegedly knocked him out. He admitted not knowing whether he was hit with a fist or a bottle.

Broome said that, as a result of his nasal injuries, he is now experiencing breathing problems and could not dive.

Broome said he met David Aguon before the incident, but he does not recall seeing and shaking hands with him at the bar. Broome said he does not recall shouting at David Aguon that he (Broome) was a Navy diver for 14 years.

Holley pointed out that David Aguon, who is from Guam, does not deny shaking hands with Broome at the bar.

Broome denied telling a doctor at the Commonwealth Health Center, where he was taken for treatment, that he had consumed 20 beers that night.

He also does not recall having a dispute with a bartender and bumping some people at the bar. He admitted he was possibly drunk that night.

When Saipan Tribune left the courtroom late afternoon yesterday, a friend of Broome was still on the witness stand. The witness testified he was not inside the bar when Broome was assaulted.

The trial will resume today at 10am.

Police said Broome was taken to the hospital due to injuries to his nose that required seven stitches.

Police said Broome told a police officer that he was punched in the face and was knocked out at White and Black Bar.