Lujan wants to hold Roberto’s trial in Guam

Guam attorney David J. Lujan has asked the federal court to transfer to Guam the jury trial of former acting CNMI Division of Fish and Wildlife director Raymond Borja Roberto, who is facing charges of enticing three minor girls to engage in prostitution and witness tampering.

In a motion filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the NMI, Lujan said the trial should be moved to the U.S. District Court of Guam as Roberto will be unable to obtain a fair and impartial trial in the NMI.

Citing several newspaper articles (not Saipan Tribune), Lujan said every time a new superseding indictment has been rendered—in this case three times—the allegations against Roberto have been inaccurately publicized.

The lawyer said the misleading information is highly prejudicial to Roberto because the charges against him were presented to the public by the media and the U.S. government as interrelated, as if a conspiracy existed among the defendant, Richard S. Benavente, and Annette N. Basa.

“By the time Roberto was charged and lumped in with Basa and Benavente, the public had received a month of extensive media reports about Basa and Benavente,” he said.

Benavente is a firefighter who has pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child. His sentencing will be on Sept. 10, 2014.

Basa, a 40-year-old woman accused of recruiting and enticing two minor girls to engage in commercial sex, pleaded guilty to a count of sex trafficking of children. Her sentencing has been postponed.

Lujan said the insistent connection by the U.S. government and the press between Roberto, Basa, and Benavente, and a “sex video tape” is prejudicial to Roberto and erroneous.

“The public has fallen prey to the inaccurate and sensational reports that the press and the government disseminated,” said Lujan as he cited a comment from a reader to a newspaper’s online article (not Saipan Tribune).

The lawyer said in fact, the newspaper articles (not Saipan Tribune) capitalize on Roberto’s popularity and people’s interest in his position, and uses it as a way to attract readers.

Lujan said the U.S. government from the start misled the media by referring to three victims and generated prejudice against Roberto.

Lujan said Roberto can only obtain a fair and impartial trial in Guam, where the public has not been exposed to the pretrial publicity, is not prejudiced against the defendant for being a local official, and where the public will not confuse the Benavente and Basa cases with this case.

The third superseding indictment filed month charged Roberto with three counts of enticement of a minor and one count of witness tampering.

In the third superseding indictment, assistant U.S. attorney Rami S. Badawy alleged that Roberto persuaded three girls to engage in prostitution or in sex from March 1, 2013, to July 18, 2013.

On the witness tampering matter, Badawy stated that the offense happened on April 24, 2014, while Roberto was detained pending trial. Badawy said the defendant attempted to obstruct, influence, and impede the case by attempting to influence the testimony of an individual. The prosecutor said Roberto attempted to persuade the same individual to alter, destroy, and conceal evidence.

Roberto has pleaded not guilty. His trial will begin on July 23, 2014 at 10am.