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Karimipour: Assistant AGs should be fired
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Posted on Nov 06 2000
Chief Public Defender Masood Karimipour yesterday said the lawyers at the Attorney General’s Office who accused him of orchestrating the police brutality charges of mentally handicapped Ramon Ayuyu should be fired.
Mr. Karimipour said the AGO “chose to maliciously lie about my conduct for rendering legal assistance to the victim which was my duty” instead of aggressively investigating and prosecuting the criminal conduct of the police.
A jury panel awarded Friday $10,000 in punitive damages to Mr. Ayuyu and $1 in actual damages after finding police officer Hillary Tagabuel liable for violation of his constitutional rights. Mr. Ayuyu, who was a suspect in a theft case, filed a $1 million civil suit before the U.S. District Court. (See related story)
Said Mr. Karimipour: “If there was accountability in the AGO, they would not need to blame their failures on the public defender or judges or blame the local people serving honorably on juries or resort to gutter tactics. The fact is a local jury on this case showed more courage and integrity in one week than the AGO has shown in the last two years.”
Mr. Karimipour has been at odds with the AGO after he was accused by the latter of helping Mr. Ayuyu prepare and file a $1 million lawsuit against the CNMI government before the U.S. District Court.
Mr. Ayuyu, a former client of Mr. Karimipour, was accused of purse snatching in 1997. Without any probable cause and an arrest warrant, he was taken from his house and forced to sign a confession at gun point.
Saying the CNMI deserves a police force that enforces laws in a professional manner, Mr. Karimipour said the islands have a lot of dedicated and honest officers who follow the rule of law.
He added that both the community and the honest officers are ill served when police misconduct is ignored and allowed to continue unpunished.
“Our community also deserves an Attorney General’s Office that conduct itself and enforces our laws in a professional manner. Turning a blind eye to police abuse send the wrong signal to both the perpetrators and the victims of police misconduct,” Mr. Karimipour said. (LFR)
