AGO wants public defender sanctioned

The Attorney General’s Office wants the Superior Court to sanction Assistant Public Defender Wesley Bogdan for alleged misrepresentation in seeking medical records of a sexual abuse victim which he planned to use in a case to defend his client.

Mr. Bogdan is representing Irvin Dela Cruz Songao, who has been charged with three counts of sexual abuse of a child identified only as A.N. in June 1998. The conflict stemmed from the motion of Mr. Bogdan seeking a review of the victim’s medical record or mental evaluation to find out if A.N. was competent to testify in the case.

A.N. was 13 years old at that time she had sexual relations with her boyfriend Mr. Songao. She is now 15 years old. As a result of her relations with the defendant, the victim was beaten up by her father, who was also charged for such action.

Mr. Bogdan has sought the release of privileged and confidential record to find out if A.N. comes from a home in which child abuse was an isolated incident or a recurring problem that could cause serious mental problems thus, affecting her ability to tell the truth. He raised the juvenile’s age and violent family background as important factors that may affect her competency to be a witness in the case.

But Assistant Attorney General James Benedetto argued that these are not critical issues to affect her competency as a witness. In fact, he said, the release of the medical record would be a violation of the victim’s Right to Privacy.

The age of A.N or her ability to recall the events in the trial is not an issue since her credibility may be challenged on cross-examination by the defense, Mr. Benedetto said.

“Fifteen-year-old girls, even those who run away from home, know the difference between the truth and a lie. Fifteen-year-old girls, even those whose fathers beat them, can tell a judge or jury that someone had sexual intercourse with them,” he said.

Superior Court Associate Judge Virginian Onerheim who is handling the case denied the motion of Mr. Bogdan for a review of medical records and a jury trial for his client.

However, Mr. Bogdan was adamant in proving his case as he sought the release of the record with the Commonwealth Health Center, not informing the medical records officer that Judge Onerheim has ruled that the document was no longer relevant to the proceedings.

According to sources, Mr. Bogdan even assured the medical officer that there was no problem in giving him the medical records of the victim which he attached in his motion for reconsideration.

The Department of Public Health said is waiting for the AGO to pursue the case against Mr. Bogdan to prevent alleged ethical violations from happening again. “He misrepresented the facts to our medical records officer. As an officer of the court , he has a responsibility to be ethical and honest and not to misrepresent the facts in order to get the information. The medical officer tried to be courteous and polite but Mr. Bogdan put us all in a terrible situation,” according to a DPH official.
Eventually, Mr. Bogdan’s efforts to get hold of the medical record were wasted since Presiding Judge Edward Manibusan denied his motion for reconsideration. In fact, Judge Manibusan ordered on April 12, 2000 to have the record sealed.

The AGO had originally sought the filing of a separate case before the court against Mr. Bogdan but backed out after it made the decision to just raise the issue before Judge Onerheim since it involves the same case.

“We believe that this is a more efficient way of handling the whole issue and that Judge Onerheim will take action on the case rather than to have a new information filed against Mr. Bogdan who improperly disclosed the medical record that should have been kept private,” said Chief Criminal Prosecutor Kevin Lynch.