Bid to transfer trial from Tinian to Saipan nixed

The Superior Court rejected yesterday the government’s bid to transfer from Tinian to Saipan the trial of two men facing “ice” trafficking charges, finding no evidence in the prosecutor’s contention that it would be impossible to obtain a conviction due to the suspects’ links to a powerful clan on Tinian.

Associate Judge David A. Wiseman acknowledged that Kurt King’s ties to the community might seem to make it impossible for the government to have a fair trial on Tinian but he is reluctant to transfer the trial to Saipan without any supporting facts or declarations to support this argument.

“In addition, the fact that [King] is widely known and extremely involved in the political infrastructure in Tinian and is a relative of a highly respected family on the island is not enough to establish good cause when moving to transfer venue,” Wiseman stated in his order.

The judge cited the CNMI Supreme Court’s ruling in Guerrero vs Tinian Dynasty case in which the high court held that “the fact that some of our islands have small populations which may implicate certain community knowledge and family ties cannot lead to a presumption against fairness and what would surely be a resulting loss of participation in the judicial process.”

The Office of the Attorney General has charged King and Byron Dela Cruz with possession of a controlled substance and trafficking of a controlled substance. In addition, King is charged with conspiracy to traffic a controlled substance.

The charges stemmed from their arrest in April 2010 when members of the CNMI’s joint Drug Enforcement Task Force raided the houses of the defendants on Tinian after a “cooperating source” allegedly managed to purchase $100 worth of “ice” from King and Dela Cruz.

In seeking to change the trial’s venue, assistant attorney general Russell Lorfing had argued that nearly all the parties, all evidence, and all witnesses are located on Saipan.

Lorfing added that King was just tried and acquitted in a criminal case less than six months prior to this illegal drug case.

He noted that King is widely known and extremely involved in the political infrastructure on Tinian and is a relative of a highly respected and powerfully family on the island.

Lorfing said King’s ties to the community make it impossible for the government to have a fair trial.

Dela Cruz, through counsel Steven Pixley, opposed the motion, arguing that all of the alleged criminal charges were committed on Tinian, he is a Tinian resident, the court regularly sits on Tinian, and judge Marty Taylor had already addressed this issue.

King, through counsel Vincent Seman, also opposed the transfer, saying that Tinian is the proper forum because that is where the alleged offense was committed and both defendants are presently located on Tinian.

Seman said the evidence is not too voluminous to transport from Saipan to Tinian, and that King may wish to call character witnesses, all of which are on Tinian.