AGO stands pat on Elyeisar plea agreement

The Attorney General’s Office is standing pat on its decision to enter into a plea agreement with Akilino Passiano Elyeisar, who was charged in connection with the death of his live-in partner.

Chief Prosecutor Jeffrey Moots told the Saipan Tribune yesterday that they entered the plea agreement with Elyeisar and his counsel and that they would pursue it on Friday’s change of plea hearing.

Moots said that, if Presiding Judge Robert C. Naraja rejects the plea agreement, the AGO might then reconsider its options.

The chief prosecutor said they understand the disappointment of the family and relatives of victim Vickyann Maratita Igitol over the government’s decision in reaching the plea bargain.

“We just want to ensure there will be a conviction. That’s important,” he said.

The family of Vickyann Igitol slammed the AGO for offering the plea bargain to Elyeisar. Their objections prompted Naraja on Tuesday to continue the change of plea hearing on Friday.

Alice Igitol, mother of the victim, told the Saipan Tribune outside the courtroom on Tuesday that Moots and assistant attorney general Kevin Lynch are not doing their job.

“They just want to get rid of this case. They didn’t even tell us about this hearing. They called my [other daughter] only yesterday,” Alice Igitol said.

She said they don’t agree with the recommendation in the plea agreement.

Under the agreement, Elyeisar would plead guilty to aggravated assault and battery. The government would recommend a jail term of 22 months, with credit for the time the defendant has already spent in jail. Elyeisar has been in jail for about 20 months.

After his release, the defendant would then be deported to Chuuk as part of the agreement.

The victim’s father, former Carolinian Affairs director Victorino Igitol, said the plea agreement is unfair for him.

But Moots said it is understandable for the family to be angry with him and Lynch because they lost their daughter and the AGO sympathizes with the family.

Moots underscored the need to enter the plea agreement as he cited that the problem is whether or not their evidence is permissible or admissible in court.

As Lynch stated in court, Moots said, the prosecution will have problem linking the defendant to the injuries of the victim.

“ If the jury agrees that he [defendant] pushed her, did he intend to kill her?” the chief prosecutor explained.

Moots also stressed that he and Lynch discussed the plea agreement with then deputy attorney general Clyde Lemons who first handled the case.

“We discussed it with Clyde Lemons before reaching the plea agreement and Clyde agreed with the plea agreement,” he said.

Court records show that police responded to a residence in Kagman on May 13, 2004, based on a call of a neighbor who suspected a domestic violence incident.

But Vickyann Igitol told responding police she just fell from a stool while she was trying to reach something from the top of their cabinet.

Elyeisar claimed he was sleeping at that time.

A few days later, however, Vickyann Igitol reportedly confided to her father what really happened. The victim’s body from the neck down was paralyzed until she died of complications a few weeks later.

Guam chief medical examiner Dr. Aurelio Espinola determined in his autopsy that the cause of death was the injury to the neck.

Espinola concluded that the death of Vickyann Igitol was a homicide and not due to an accident from a fall.

A doctor at the Commonwealth Health Center also testified in court before that the victim’s two bones in the nape had been dislocated.