Rape suspect wants charges dismissed

One of two men accused of raping a woman has asked the court to dismiss the charges against him after the jury trial concluded in a mistrial.

Richmond Keybond, 21, through his lawyer, Cong Nie, had verbally asked Superior Court Associate Judge Theresa Kim-Tenorio to dismiss the charges against him but Kim-Tenorio later told Nie to file his argument in writing why the charges against his client warrant dismissal.

Keybond’s co-defendant, Joseph Aquino Saimon, through assistant public defender JP Nogues, told the court that they would work with the prosecution to resolve the case without having to go through another jury trial.

Assistant attorney general Coleen St. Clair informed the court that the parties are working on a change of plea agreement for Saimon.

Kim-Tenorio scheduled a status conference for Jan. 5 to discuss with the parties involved how they would proceed with the case. Kim-Tenorio said she is looking at setting a new jury trial for March if the parties don’t come to a resolution by then.

In terms of the decision for the mistrial, Nogues, who represents Saimon, also moved for a mistrial, saying he believes the court made the right choice.

“Every defendant has the right to a fair trial and we were concerned there was an issue here and the court agreed there were risks for that. We’ll see where things go from here,” he said.

Saipan Tribune tried to solicit comments from St. Clair and Nie about the court’s decision for a mistrial but both declined to comment.

According to Saipan Tribune archives, Kim-Tenorio said that declaring the mistrial was the only way to ensure justice under the circumstances for the defendants.

Prior to calling the victim up to testify, the court informed the government, represented by St. Clair, that evidence alluding to any prior violent conduct by Saimon against the alleged victim would not be allowed. The government informed the alleged victim of this but she still did so.

Saimon, through Nogues, argued that because of the victim’s testimony, there is a high possibility that the jury will consider all alleged actions by Saimon on the day of the alleged incident with an understanding that, if he was violent in the past, he must have been violent during the alleged incident.

As for Keybond, Nie argued that the testimony of the alleged victim would also color the jury’s view of him.