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IN CASE OF SEXUAL ABUSE OF 15-YEAR-OLD GIRL
OAG forfeits all documents requested by OPD
The Office of the Attorney General produced all materials needed by the Office of the Public Defender to restart the preliminary hearing of a man who allegedly sexually abused a 15-year-old girl.
Last Friday, in a motion hearing to compel production of police records and information, the Office of the Attorney General forfeited all material that was requested of them by the Office of the Public Defender to resume the preliminary hearing of 22-year-old Peter Fritz Lizama, who allegedly sexually abused a minor.
According to assistant attorney general Teri Tenorio, all the documents were produced and the preliminary hearing is back on track.
The OAG produced the records and information that police detective Wally Emul said he reviewed to familiarize himself with the case prior to testifying, police records or other reports or documents containing statements made by the alleged victim, and police records and information that constitute Brady material.
Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph Camacho has ordered the resumption of Lizama’s preliminary hearing on Sept. 13, 2018.
According to a previous article on the Saipan Tribune, assistant public defender Jean Pierre Nogues, counsel for Lizama, asked the Superior Court to order the OAG to provide the documents that Emul said he reviewed to familiarize himself with the case prior to testifying.
Nogues said in the context of a preliminary hearing, the interest of justice requires production of the police report, witness statements, and physical evidence to the defense prior to the preliminary hearing.
Lizama is charged with four counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree and two counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree.
Police arrested Lizama last month for allegedly sexually abusing the girl who was then sleeping in her bedroom on Saipan.
Police said that during an interview, Lizama cried and confessed to having sex with the girl.
The girl told police that it was the seventh time that Lizama sexually abused her and that the previous incidents happened in 2015.
