Sex offender seeks disqualification of judge

Sex offender Ivan Castro wants Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph N. Camacho to be disqualified from presiding over his case charging him for failure to update the Department of Public Safety Sex Offender Registry Section about his verification information and for having contact with minor children.

Castro, through counsel assistant public defender Tillman Clark, disclosed yesterday that Camacho, as a then-practicing attorney, represented Angel Santos, a co-defendant to Castro in a prior criminal case.

Camacho set a hearing for Castro’s motion to recuse for Feb. 24 at 9am.

The bench trial for Castro was set for Feb. 29 before Camacho.

In defendant’s motion to recuse, Clark said Santos took a position that placed him in an adverse position to Castro by agreeing to testify against Castro.

“As such, Judge Camacho was placed in a position as an attorney where it would be required to gather information and attack the background, character, and acts of Mr. Castro for the purposes of defending Mr. Santos,” Clark said.

This, the defense lawyer said, creates a situation in which Camacho has likely previously gathered an extra-judicial knowledge of Castro as it pertains to previous criminal allegations and his alleged involvement for the purposes of cross examination and argument.

“This would cause a reasonable person to conclude that the judge’s impartiality might be questioned in the current matter,” Clark said.

The defense lawyer said if the court denies their motion to recuse on its face, they alternatively request an evidentiary hearing on the matter.

Santos and Castro were among the four men charged before over the kidnapping of a student in Kagman on June 15, 2010 and raping her at Tank Beach.

Santos and his then-counsel Camacho signed a plea deal with the government. Santos pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sexual assault in the first degree.

In June 2011, Superior Court Associate Judge David A. Wiseman sentenced Santos to 15 years in prison.

According to Santos, he only served as a lookout as it was his co-defendants Castro, Joseph Camacho Jr., and Alfred P. Hocog who abducted and then raped the victim.

In December 2010, Wiseman dismissed without prejudice the charges against Castro, Joseph Camacho Jr., and Hocog, at the request of the Office of the Attorney General, after the results of a DNA test turned up inconclusive.

As of yesterday, the government has yet to re-file charges against Castro and the two co-defendants.