DPS chief: Cop was only following 2009 OAG opinion

Edwin Somorang Kileleman, a man who was arrested without a warrant on rape charges, was detained for more than 26 hours because a police officer just followed an opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General in 2009.

At a news briefing yesterday, Department of Public Safety Commissioner James C. Deleon Guerrero disclosed that he learned about the OAG memorandum only on Monday afternoon.

Deleon Guerrero said the OAG’s interpretation of the statute is that if detainees are informed of the charges, they can be held for another 24 hours after the initial 24 hours—in essence a total of 48 hours.

“I don’t think it is fair for the officer to receive full blame for what happened. Had that memo not came out then we would not have been doing this to begin with,” the commissioner pointed out.

Saipan Tribune learned that the legal opinion Deleon Guerrero was referring to was a memo issued by then-acting chief prosecutor George L. Hasselback on Oct. 21, 2009.

Kileleman, 49, was arrested for allegedly raping a woman at his home in China Town last Tuesday, June 24.

Kileleman was taken to Superior Court for his initial appearance on Friday, but Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho granted assistant public defender Eden Schwartz’s motion to release her client on the grounds that he was held unlawfully for more than 24 hours.

Camacho found out that Kileleman was arrested without a warrant on Wednesday, June 25, at 12:41pm and then detained for more than 26 hours.

Camacho said DPS must do better as Kileleman’s case involves serious charges.

The judge noted that that the court is mandated by the Constitution and the Commonwealth Criminal Code to order Kileleman’s release from custody.

“The blame for dropping the ball falls squarely on the shoulders of the DPS officer,” Camacho said.

Police detective Rhonda John was the assigned investigator in Kileleman’s case.

At Tuesday’s news briefing, DPS chief Deleon Guerrero said he is trying to reach out to Camacho for a meeting regarding this issue.

“Obviously, whenever a ruling comes out from the court, it carries a lot more weight than a legal opinion,” Deleon Guerrero said.

He said that with Camacho’s ruling, the policy right now is for detainees to be processed within the 24-hour period as opposed to 48.

He said the DPS legal counsel is doing more research to see what the final policy would be.

“But as a stop gap measure so that we ensure we don’t make mistakes, the rule is we process them within the 24-hour period or get Rule 5 or arrest warrant and get it done within the 24-hour period,” the commissioner said.

Deleon Guerrero said they based their actions a lot on whatever comes out from OAG because at the end of the day they are responsible for prosecuting these cases.

Deleon Guerrero said a plain reading of the OAG opinion is that if they serve a detainee a copy of their booking slip, they in essence have informed the detainee that he or she has been charged and that they can be detaind for another 24 hours.

“Right now the policy is 24 hours,” said the commissioner, adding that he already instructed the commander of the Commonwealth Bureau of Investigation to ensure that all processing has to be done within 24 hours.