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Probable cause found to charge driver in fatal hit-and-run
Superior Court Associate Judge Wesley Bogdan has found probable cause to warrant the filing of six charges against the driver of a sports utility vehicle allegedly involved in a hit-and-run case that killed a pedestrian in As Mahetog last April 1.
At a preliminary hearing last week, Bogdan found probable cause to charge David Desebel Kapileo with homicide by vehicle, driving while under the influence of alcohol, reckless driving, speeding, failure to maintain lane, and leaving the scene of accident.
Bogdan ordered the 50-year-old Kapileo to respond the charges.
At the hearing, assistant attorney general Jonathan Robert Glass Jr. called one witness, Police Sgt. Norris Kwon.
The Office of the Public Defender is counsel for Kapileo.
The arraignment was set for yesterday.
Police arrested Kapileo last May 28. He is currently detained at the Department of Corrections for failing to post a $100,000 cash bond.
The victim, a 38-year-old Chinese male, was hit by the sports utility vehicle at the intersection of Chalan Pale Arnold Road and As Mahetog near the Saipan Ice and Water Co. last April 1.
The victim was pronounced dead at the Commonwealth Health Center that same day at 9:45pm.
Police said that, according to a witness, after the SUV hit the victim, the driver kept driving south, then reportedly made a left turn on Mihaville in Garapan. Police found the SUV seven hours later.
Kapileo is a habitual offender and has been arrested several times since being released on a murder conviction.
Kapileo fatally shot his mother with a gun at their house in Garapan in December1992, according to court records.
