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Motion to reconsider allowing OAG to amend traffic citation is denied
Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho denied last week Corrections director Gregory Frank Taitano Castro’s motion to reconsider the court’s order allowing the government to amend the traffic citation issued against him over the alleged misuse of a government vehicle.
Camacho said that Castro failed to argue that the court’s order allowing the Commonwealth to amend the citation was either in clear error or worked a manifest injustice.
Nnor did Castro argue that new evidence or a change in law required reconsideration, he said.
The traffic citation charged Castro with four offenses: Operating a government vehicle for a purpose other than official government business, operating a government vehicle with tinting on its windows, operating a government vehicle without government identification markings on the front doors, and operating a government vehicle without government license plate.
Castro’s bench trial started last July 10; that same day the government moved to amend one charge. The request was granted.
Last July 10 and 11, Castro, through counsel Rene Holmes, asked the court to reconsider its order allowing assistant attorney general Jonathan Wilberscheid to amend one charge in the citation.
Holmes said the citation did not provide adequate notice of the charges and thus violated Castro’s right to due process. Holmes moved to dismiss the case and also asked the court to reconsider its ruling.
The Office of the Public Auditor allegedly caught Castro using an unmarked DOC vehicle to go to the Marianas Country Club in Marpi in the morning of March 15, 2017, to play golf. He allegedly played golf with his brother for three hours.
Castro, 58, pleaded not guilty.
