Victim of alleged police brutality testifies in court

A Saipan man, who is suing the CNMI government for $1 million over alleged police brutality to confess to a crime, relived his harrowing experience during the start of the jury trial in the U.S. District Court yesterday.

Ramon Aldan Ayuyu, 22, testified that he was beaten up and had a gun pointed at his head by police officers of the Department of Public Safety in November 1997 to force him to sign a paper admitting to the crime of stealing a purse.

He said the incident had almost driven him to commit suicide by hanging himself at the back of his house in Koblerville because “I got bruises on my lips and my face.”

Mr. Ayuyu, who said he is a “slow learner” and can’t read and write in English or in the native Chamorro , took the witness stand yesterday afternoon after six jurors plus two alternates were picked by both the prosecution and the defense to decide on the case.

The plaintiff is being represented by lawyer Steve Pixley, while the CNMI government, DPS and police officer Hilary Tagabuel are being defended by Assistant Attorney General William Betts of the civil division.

Mr. Ayuyu filed the $1 million damage suit in the federal court in December last year, claiming the police used coercion to extract a confession from him on the theft incident that occurred at Winchell’s Garapan.

The Attorney General’s Office filed criminal charges against him in the local Superior Court, but the case was dismissed in April last year after the prosecution said a key witness to the crime had left the island.

Coercion

In his opening statement, Mr. Pixley said the prosecution would be able to show that the police coerced his client to admit to the crime he did not commit.

“Ramon Ayuyu is a bit slow, but he will be consistent [in telling] what had happened to him,” he told the jurors.

Mr. Betts, on the other hand, cast doubt on the credibility of the plaintiff, noting his has evolved for the past one and a half years. He described the allegations as “half-truths” due to what he said as confusing statements from Mr. Ayuyu.

“This case is about money, about somebody being put up to something, about somebody being rehearsed [to testify in court],” he said in his opening statement.

During the court proceeding, the lawyers fought over whether Public Defender Masood Karimipour, who represented Mr. Ayuyu on the criminal case, should testify in the federal court.

Mr. Betts said his testimony was irrelevant in the civil case, but District Judge Alex R. Munson eventually allowed the CNMI official to testify on behalf of the prosecution.

Mr. Karimipour told the court a motion the AGO filed in connection with the criminal case in the local court to suppress the confession letter as evidence was never acted.

When he attempted to recount his meeting with Mr. Ayuyu over claims that he was harmed by the police, the prosecution objected to the line of questioning as hearsay since it claimed he had no personal knowledge of the incident.

Judge Munson then took under advisement a motion by the defense to strike out testimony of Mr. Karimipour from the case for being irrelevant.

Beating
During his almost two hours of testimony, Mr. Ayuyu responded to questions of his lawyer and the defense, relying often to an interpreter who spoke to him in Chamorro.

He claimed that Officer Tagabuel went to his house in the early morning of Nov. 26, 1997 accusing him of stealing the money. He was then asked to go with him to the police station in Susupe for questioning.

While he said at one time he voluntarily went with the police, he claimed he was forced to board a civilian car driven by Officer Tagabuel.

In the station, he alleged he was interrogated by five police officers inside the detective’s section where they “banged and kicked” the chairs and the desks.

“They told me to write something in the paper,” Mr. Ayuyu said, adding he had an asthma attack and had a hard time breathing but he was refused medical assistance when he requested the police.

He also related that it was another officer, James Guerrero, who pointed gun at him and ordered him to sign the paper, but he refused because “I didn’t do it.”

“They kept beating me up,” Mr. Ayuyu testified. “After that they put me in jail.”

He also told the jury that he spent four days in jail and had to walk home to Koblerville after he was finally released from detention. He said he told his mother what had happened after she saw his eyes and lips swollen.

At one point, he claimed he was looking for a wire to hang himself with at the back of his house but that his mother called up police to stop him from committing suicide.

In the cross-examination, Mr. Betts pointed out the plaintiff’s deposition was different from the testimony, noting his statement that he was put in jail for 24 hours and that Officer Guerrero was not mentioned, not even in the formal complaint.

Mr. Ayuyu continues his testimony today at the resumption of the trial.