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Judge tells ex-lawmaker to hire a private lawyer
Bench trial is scheduled for April 25, 2016
Superior Court Associate Judge Kenneth L. Govendo has relieved the Office of the Public Defender as counsel for former lawmaker Juan Iguel Tenorio in connection with the charges that he beat up a male teenager in Marpi.
Tenorio
At a status conference on Tuesday, Govendo ordered the 66-year-old Tenorio to hire a private counsel after the Office of Adult Probation determined that he is able to retain counsel.
A bench trial is scheduled for April 25, 2016.
Govendo said if Tenorio fails to appear at his scheduled hearing, a bench warrant will be issued for his arrest.
Assistant attorney general Heather Barcinas appeared for the government. Assistant public defender Michael Sato appeared as then-counsel for Tenorio.
The information charged Tenorio with assault and battery and disturbing the peace.
Assistant attorney general Shannon R. Foley stated in the information that Tenorio punched the victim in the face on April 2, 2015.
Foley said Tenorio also screamed profanities at the victim and punched him in the face.
The defendant pleaded not guilty of the charges.
Police detective Jesus K. Wabol stated in his report that a responding police officer learned that Tenorio tailed the 19-year-old male and his two female passengers from the former La Fiesta Mall area in San Roque to the parking lot of Marianas Trekking, where the assault happened.
The officer said the victim had a one-inch laceration on his nose. One female passenger of the car was crying.
The teenager told police that he was driving his car with two passengers heading to the Grotto when a white car, which was heading in the same direction, passed them and cut in front of his vehicle at a close distance.
The female passenger got upset and flipped off Tenorio, who was the driver of the white car. The former lawmaker then followed them to the Marianas Trekking parking lot, where the alleged beating happened.
