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Suit vs DOC officials dismissed
The lawsuit filed by a former Department of Corrections inmate against the department and its officials has been dismissed.
The lawsuit filed by Price Shoiter against DOC and its past and present officials has been dismissed following Shoiter’s removal from the CNMI. Shoiter is a Chuukese national who was granted executive clemency on the condition that he will be deported from the CNMI.
According to the U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona Manglona, she granted the Office of the Attorney General’s motion to dismiss Shoiter’s lawsuit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
In her order, Manglona denied the plaintiff’s request for attorney’s fees and likewise denied as moot the motion to compel, and the defendant’s motion for a protective order.
The court, however, extended the discovery cutoff and allowed the plaintiff to serve a subpoena on the Department of Corrections on or before June 30 if the plaintiff chooses to do so.
Shoiter, a 74-year-old Chuukese national, was sentenced in 2016 to 10 years in prison for sexually abusing a 7-year-old girl. Shoiter sued the Department of Corrections’ current and former officials, alleging denial of adequate medical care.
According to court documents, Shoiter was in DOC custody beginning on Nov. 15, 2015. On Jan. 6, 2023, former governor Ralph DLG Torres issued an Executive Grant of Clemency to Shoiter. His sentence was commuted to time served, subject to the condition that Shoiter is removed from the CNMI. On May 6, 2023, he was released to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which removed him from the CNMI.
“Shoiter is no longer in the custody of the Department of Corrections, and therefore, all claims against the official capacity defendant for injunctive or declaratory relief are now moot,” the CNMI government said.
