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OAG moves to drop rape case vs 2
The Office of the Attorney General has moved to drop the case against two men accused of raping a 52-year-old woman on Saipan.
Assistant attorney general Teri C. Tenorio informed the Superior Court last week that the victim in the case against Jaime Always and Youwan Weiner Sony has asked for counseling and treatment and, since the duration of the treatment remains unknown and because the time limitation to begin a prosecution has not expired, the “Commonwealth believes it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the instant matter without prejudice.”
That means the government may re-file the case against the 47-year-old Always and 29-year-old Sony in the future.
Last March, Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho dismissed without prejudice the charges against Always after finding during a preliminary hearing that no probable cause to believe that the crimes of sexual assault in the first degree were committed.
The OAG then re-filed the charges against Always.
Last September, the Office of the Public Defender, counsel for Always, asserted that the purported basis for Always’ liability is that he allegedly told the woman to “listen and obey” when someone else’s supposed crime against her was already in progress.
Assistant public defender Heather M. Zona said there is no allegation that Always was in a position of authority over the woman, and both were adults at the time of the alleged conduct.
According to police, officers responded to a house last Feb. 4 to investigate a reported sexual assault incident. The officers met with the woman, who alleged that Always and Sony raped her.
Always and Sony were found by the officers still sleeping inside the house where the rape allegedly happened.
Always and Sony claimed to have had consensual sex with the woman.
