Fitial pleads not guilty

Former governor Benigno R. Fitial entered Friday a not-guilty plea to all 10 criminal charges filed against him by the CNMI government in Superior Court.

At his arraignment at 9:30am, Fitial, through counsel Stephen Nutting, waived the reading of the information and advisement of his constitutional rights. He pleaded not guilty.

Superior Court Associate Judge David A. Wiseman set a case management conference on either July 8 or 9, 2014.

Office of the Public Auditor legal counsel George L. Hasselback filed the charges on Thursday on behalf of the CNMI government.

The information charged the 68-year-old Fitial with one count of solicitation of escape, five counts of misconduct in public office, one count of conspiracy to commit escape, one count of use of public position to obtain benefits for business or social acquaintances, one count of conspiracy to commit theft of services, and one count of theft of services.

The charges were related to the unauthorized release of a federal inmate, award of a sole-source American Recovery and Reinvestment Act contract, and shielding of former attorney general Edward T. Buckingham from being served with penal summons.

Wiseman set two dates for the case management conference because the case has been assigned to Associate Judge Teresa Kim-Tenorio, who on Friday was off-island.

If Kim-Tenorio recuses herself, Wiseman said the matter may fall back to him and that he will hold the conference on July 9 at 1:30pm.

Nutting recommended a July date for the status conference because Fitial will have returned to the CNMI by then.

Nutting said Fitial does not need to personally attend the case management conference. Hasselback agreed that he does not see the need for the former governor to attend the conference.

Wiseman agreed.

Before entering the not-guilty plea, Nutting made an oral motion to dismiss the information.

Nutting stated that they’re very troubled because some of the charges in the information were outside from the original charges in the arrest warrant.

Nutting said it is a standing argument that Commonwealth law agrees that OPA gives the Public Auditor the authority to file criminal charges against the governor and the AG—only those two persons.

At this point in time, Nutting said, charges were never filed against the governor as Fitial “was the governor.”

“And so from our perspective, the statute precludes them from being able to bring charges against him,” the lawyer pointed out.

Hasselback said that at the time of the violations, Fitial was the governor.

“He’s the governor when he committed the alleged violations,” Hasselback said, that’s why there is a statute of limitations in filing charges.

Wiseman said that Friday’s hearing was an arraignment. He ordered Nutting to file a written motion and Hasselback to reply, then the court will set a hearing for that.

After the hearing, Fitial walked outside the courtroom aided by a cane and his wife, Josie.

The courtroom was jam-packed again with his relatives, supporters, and friends. But unlike his first court appearance last Wednesday, there were enough space to fit in the crowd on Friday.

Fitial again refused to talk to reporters about the charges.

He said he’s going back to the Philippines on Wednesday because he has to talk to his rehabilitation doctor. Fitial said since he came back to Saipan, he just stayed at his house, meeting some relatives and friends.

When asked if he and Gov. Eloy S. Inos have already met, Fitial said, “Not yet.” When pressed whether he wants to talk to Inos, he replied, “It depends.”

In an interview with reporters, Nutting said they will file a written motion to dismiss at the end of next week. Nutting said he did not expect Wiseman to rule on their oral motion Friday morning.

“We’re fairly confident that the statute is very, very clear, that the public auditor has the right to bring charges against the governor. Benigno Fitial is not our governor at this point,” he said.

As to the 10 charges, Nutting said his client had just entered a not-guilty plea so they don’t want to talk too much about the case at this juncture. Nutting, however, stressed that they will defend against the charges vigorously.

If Kim-Tenorio opts to handle the case, Nutting said he does not know if they will move for her recusal as he and Fitial have not discussed the issue yet.

Kim-Tenorio used to serve as legal counsel for the lieutenant governor’s office during the Fitial administration.

When asked whether the issue in their motion to dismiss was already ruled by the court in the case against former attorney general Edward Buckingham, Nutting said it is completely different circumstances as in that case, the judge disqualified the AG from representing Buckingham.

Nutting said it’s for obvious reason as the AG appeared at the arraignment on behalf of one of criminal defendants.

“When you’re doing that, it is very difficult to prosecute that defendant at the same time. So that is obvious grounds for disqualification,” he said.

Nutting said Fitial has never appeared in this proceeding without anyone other than him.

“So those grounds don’t exist today,” he added.