Hearing of Stanley’s case to continue

The Superior Court on Thursday ordered the continuation of the proceedings in the case against former Rep. Stanley Torres after the Supreme Court had denied the government’s request to overturn the lower court’s earlier ruling.

Associate Judge Juan T. Lizama granted the motion to lift the stay filed by Torres’ co-defendant, Frank Ada, and reinstated the scheduled hearing of Ada’s dismissal motion on Aug. 18.

At the same time, Lizama ordered that the hearing for the motion to lift the stay—which Ada had set for Aug. 25—be taken off the calendar, since there is no need for it anymore.

On July 19, the Superior Court issued an order staying the proceedings in the case. The stay was requested by the Attorney General’s Office, so it could pursue a writ of prohibition with the Supreme Court.

The AGO had asked the High Court to overturn an earlier Superior Court order, which required Attorney General Pamela S. Brown’s name to be included in the criminal information against Torres and his co-defendants.

But on July 20, Supreme Court Chief Justice Miguel S. Demapan denied the government’s request, and called instead for a speedy trial of the case

In a six-page order, Demapan said that granting the Attorney General’s Office a writ of prohibition was “unwarranted,” as the lower court was not clearly erroneous in issuing the order.

The chief justice also refuted the AGO’s claim that the Superior Court’s order was in violation of the separation of powers.

Demapan said the Superior Court did not encroach on the executive branch’s power and responsibility to legally prosecute people, but “merely ordered that the Commonwealth amend its information to formally apprise the defendants of the AG’s identity, which is no secret anyway.”

On March 11, 2004, deputy attorney general Clyde Lemons Jr. and chief prosecutor David Hutton charged Torres with five counts of misconduct in public office, conspiracy to commit theft, conspiracy to commit theft by deception and illegal use of public supplies, services, time and personnel.

Ada was also charged with four counts each of conspiracy to commit theft and conspiracy to commit theft by deception, and illegal use of public supplies, services, time and personnel.

Dorothy Sablan had five counts filed against her in each of the last three offenses. Each of the defendants has been charged with an additional five counts of theft, theft by deception and receiving stolen property.

The criminal information alleged that Sablan received at least five checks totaling $5,384.67 in government payroll in 2003 while working as Torres’ office manager, when she was actually off-island. Ada allegedly prepared fraudulent time and attendance sheets indicating that Sablan had performed her duties when she was off-island

Torres and Brown have been at odds with one another dating back to the time of her confirmation by the Senate for her nomination as AG. Soon after Brown was confirmed to the post, the charges against the congressman were filed in court. The AGO, however, claimed that the investigation of Torres began before Brown was even confirmed.