Stanley wants AGO to provide more detailed charges

Former congressman Stanley Torres asked the Superior Court to compel the Attorney General’s Office to provide more definite statements relating to the criminal charges against him.

The congressman’s lawyer, former attorney general Robert T. Torres, asked the court to grant his request for a bill of particulars—a device in criminal proceedings that informs the defendant of a more specific details of the offenses charged to advise him and the court of what facts he will be required to meet.

The lawyer attached a copy of an excerpt from the indictment documents of former senators Ricardo Atalig and Jose Dela Cruz, saying that an elaborate discussion of the alleged fraudulent scheme and conspiracy the senators were accused of should also be done in the Superior Court case against Stanley Torres.

Robert Torres chided prosecutors for allegedly doing the criminal information improperly.

“The prosecution has apparently brought a criminal information, not an indictment, suggesting some scheme between and among defendants,” he said. “The problem is that the general allegations in the information, coupled with a Rule 16 discovery production of over 1,256 pages and two computer diskettes including phone records and time sheets, are so general that they do not advise the defendant of the specific acts of which he is accused of.”

A criminal information is a written accusation of a crime signed by the prosecutor, charging a defendant with the commission of the crime. An indictment, additionally, is submitted to grand jury by the prosecuting attorney.

“For example, with respect to misuse of government services, is it misuse of government services with a telephone? A computer? A car? Time? Services? This detail is not only important but necessary,” Robert Torres said.

He said a more detailed statement of the offense allegedly committed by Stanley Torres is necessary to enable the former lawmaker to adequately prepare for trial and to avoid double jeopardy, which happens when a person is put to trial twice for the same offense.

Robert Torres also asked the court that the amended information be amended again so that the preamble in the amended information can be stricken out as it implies the defendant’s guilt. He said Stanley Torres is presumed innocent.

“The reason for the motion to strike the preamble is to remove this most scandalous and petty attempt to prejudice the court and the jury pool,” he said.

The Saipan Tribune tried to obtain CNMI chief prosecutor David Hutton’s comments, but he said he is not handling the case anymore, referring the matter to deputy attorney general Clyde Lemons Jr., who could not be reached as of press time.

Lemons and Hutton had charged Stanley Torres, his former office manager Dorothy Sablan, and legislative staff Frank Ada of plotting a scheme where Sablan allegedly received her salary when she did not actually perform work.