Ex-first lady a potential juror

Diann Tudela Torres

Former first lady Diann Tudela Torres, along with over 200 other individuals, has been summoned as one of the potential jurors in the criminal case of former governor Ralph DLG Torres.

The NMI Superior Court has issued a list of two jury panels, each consisting of 150 prospective jurors for a total of 300 prospective jurors, for the jury trial of Torres, and among the perspective jurors is Torres’ wife. All prospective are residents of Saipan.

Judge pro tem Alberto E. Tolentino has scheduled the jury trial for June 5, 2023.

Torres’ defense team, consisting of attorneys Victorino Torres, Matthew Holley, Viola Alepuyo, and Anthony Aguon, earlier requested the court to select a jury panel from the entire CNMI voter registration list and not just from Saipan. The defense argued that, in small communities like the CNMI, it is easy for jurors to be swayed by extrajudicial information and personal considerations.

“This is especially so for Gov. Torres. Gov. Torres was elected by a majority of voters from across the CNMI in 2014 and 2018. As governor of the CNMI, Gov. Torres deals with all the islands. The policies he makes also apply to every island. Furthermore, some of the trips referenced in this case deal with trips to the other islands. Because Gov. Torres’ work deals directly with all of the islands, it is difficult for the members of the small-knit communities not to have an opinion of the governor. To exacerbate this issue, Gov. Torres’ recent impeachment and resulting lawsuits, the criminal charges recently filed against him, and all of the resulting publicity, have made it nearly impossible for all the CNMI voters to come up with an unbiased opinion of him. This may make it difficult to find a sufficient number of unbiased jurors,” the defense stated.

Because of this, Torres’ team of lawyers argued that the most practical method of ensuring a sufficiently large jury pool is to draw jurors from all the islands and not just from Saipan.

“The need for judicial economy weighs in favor of having a larger jury pool,” stated the defense.

Torres has been charged by the CNMI Office of the Attorney General with 12 counts of misconduct in public office and one count of theft relating to the issuance of airline tickets for business class, first class, or other premium class travel for himself and/or first lady Diann T. Torres.

The complaint also included theft charges related to the former governor’s travel expenses amounting to $20,000 between April 2018 and May 30, 2019, using public funds.

The case likewise alleged one count of contempt for failure to appear in compliance with a legislative subpoena.

Torres has denied the charges.