Judge denies mayor son’s motion to suppress evidence

The federal court yesterday denied a motion filed by a defendant in an armed robbery case to suppress evidence with respect to three issues, but granted his request to exclude evidence pertaining to one.

U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Alex R. Munson denied Wilbur Vic Masga Inos’ motion to suppress his statements in response to a police officer’s initial questions regarding his location and attire.

Munson also denied the motion to suppress Inos’ statements in response to a police officer’s questions regarding the location of the rifle, the rifle, the clothes, and defendant’s written confession.

The judge, however, granted the defendant’s motion to suppress his oral statements in response to a police officer’s questions about the location of the clothes worn to commit the robbery.

Police arrested Inos about an hour after the robbery at Rota Poker was reported to the Rota Department of Public Safety on Aug. 4, 2008.

Detective George A. Barcinas stated in his report that when interrogated, Inos surrendered the money and explained that he only did it because his son is in critical condition in Guam.

Inos was subsequently indicted in federal court with one count of Hobbs Act robbery and one count of use of a firearm in the commission of a violent crime.

Inos, through counsel Robert T. Torres, asked the court to exclude evidence that according to him were illegally obtained by authorities.

Torres said the entry onto his property by Rota police Sgt. Eusebio Manglona was without probable cause.

In his ruling, Munson said Inos did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the barracks and therefore his 4th Amendment rights were not violated even if the court found the search unreasonable.

With respect to initial questions by Sgt. Manglona, Munson said Inos was not the subject of an “interrogation” and he was not yet entitled to the Miranda warnings.

Accordingly, the judge said, the motion to suppress defendant’s statements in response to Sgt. Manglona’s inquiries as to his location and attire is denied.

On the rifle issue, Munson said the question was primarily focused on locating the abandoned weapon and cannot arbitrarily be extricated from the money inquiry.

“Accordingly, the motion to suppress incriminating statements made by defendant up to the time when the rifle was located is denied because of the public safety exception,” he said.

On the statements issue, Munson said the defendant’s statements were voluntary and the physical fruits of those statements (the clothes) are admissible.

On the confession issue, Munson said Inos made a rational decision to waive his rights and sign the written confession.

Pertaining to the location of the clothes, Munson said regardless of how cordial the officers were to Inos or how comfortable and familiar the surroundings were to him, a reasonable person could not conclude that defendant was free to leave and defendant was therefore “in custody” for purposes of Miranda.

Inos is facing separate robbery charges in the Superior Court over the same incident. He is the son of the current Rota Mayor Joseph Inos.