‘Identify person who revealed juror relationships’

The U.S. government has asked the federal court to compel the lawyers of former Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Villagomez, James Santos, and Joaquina Santos to disclose the names of those who, according to the defense, had disclosed the relationships between some witnesses and jurors.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric O’Malley, in the U.S. government’s motion to compel disclosure, asked the court to require that person to testify during the hearing on June 22, 2009.

O’Malley cited the importance of the motion, saying their attempt to obtain the information through “less coercive means” had proven fruitless.

Seven days after being found guilty of conspiracy to defraud the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. on April 24, Villagomez and the Santos couple filed a motions for acquittal or a new trial, based on allegations that the defense had learned after the verdict that some of the witnesses were related to some of the jurors.

David J. Lujan, lead counsel for Villagomez, stated that after the jury verdict on April 24, the defense received information that at least five jurors and one alternate juror were related to key government witnesses or the government investigator who assisted the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“Based on such information, the defense retained a genealogist to determine the familiar relations of said jurors and government witnesses and to obtain their family trees,” Lujan said.

O’Malley said the U.S. government is in the process of preparing its response to the motions. However, they need certain information to do so, and this information can only be provided by the defense, he said.

Specifically, the U.S. government seeks to identity of the person or persons who provided the information regarding the relationships, he said.

O’Malley said that last May 12 he asked Ramon Quichocho, lawyer for Joaquina Villagomez, about the name of the source of information described in those motions.

O’Malley said Quichocho responded that he did not know the identity and that Victorino Torres, counsel for James Santos, would likely know.

The prosecutor said he immediately contacted Torres and asked him to provide the name of the source.

O’Malley said Torres paused and briefly responded: “I’ve seen her face,” but ultimately said he was unable to identify any source, except to say that any information he received had come from Herman T. Guerrero, the person the defense hired to do a genealogical survey on the jurors.

O’Malley said he next called Lujan, asking for the name of the source. He explained to Lujan that the prosecution had a right to interview this person to find out why he or she waited until after the verdict to provide the information.

O’Malley said Lujan answered that he did not know any names and that he did not speak to anyone personally.

The prosecutor said Lujan had also stated that family members of the defendants received many phone calls regarding the juror relationships.

On his second call to Lujan about the issue, the Guam lawyer stated that the “government will have to conduct its own investigation.”

In the second call to Torres, O’Malley said the lawyer stated that he preferred not to give any information except during an evidentiary hearing, but if under oath, he would openly provide the information.