No probable cause to charge 1 of 2 accused of rape

Charges against one of two men accused of raping a 52-year-old woman at a house on Saipan were dismissed without prejudice Friday.

No probable cause was found during a preliminary hearing to believe that 46-year-old Jaime Always committed sexual assault in the first degree and sexual assault in the first degree.

Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho dismissed the case against Always, saying the government has failed to prove the essential element of sexual penetration.

“This is the failure of the Office of the Attorney General and Department of Public Safety to properly investigate and determine what type of sex occurred,” Camacho said in his order.

Always was ordered released from the Department of Corrections. However, the dismissal was without prejudice, which means the government may re-file the case in the future.

Camacho said it is for the OAG and DPS to present witnesses that will testify on each and every element of the charges.

“Like a car with missing wheels will not move, or an airplane without wings will not fly, the Office of the Attorney General has the burden to prove each and every essential element,” Camacho said.

The judge said that in the case of sexual assault in the first degree, the essential element that must be proven is sexual penetration.

He said sexual assault in the first degree requires that the element of sexual penetration be proven.

By example, he said, sexual assault in the second degree requires the element of sexual contact (not penetration).

Camacho said that, according to the lead detective, the alleged victim reported that the two defendants—Always and Weiner Sony—raped her.

The detective testified that when the alleged victim was asked what she meant by “rape,” she replied that “rape” means being “scared and frightened.”

Camacho said there was no testimony that Always sexually penetrated the alleged victim.

To be sure, Camacho said, there was testimony that sex occurred. However, sex can be sexual contact or sexual penetration. He said many things can be sexual but it does not automatically mean sexual penetration.

Camacho noted that Always and Sony both claimed having had consensual sex with the alleged victim.

Assistant attorney general Teri C. Tenorio appeared for the government at the hearing. Chief Public Defender Douglas Hartig and assistant public defender Heather Zona appeared as counsel for Always.

According to police detective Buddy S. Igitol, police officers responded to a house last Feb. 4 to investigate a reported sexual assault.

Upon arriving, the officers met a woman, who stated that two men known to her raped her. The woman identified Always and Sony, who were found by the officers sleeping inside the house where the rape allegedly happened.

Igitol said Always and Sony were interviewed and admitted to have had sex with the woman, but that it was consensual.
The case against Sony is still pending in court.