by Ronna Sweeney, KUAM NewsTuesday, May 13, 2008 Subscribe to Ronna's newsfeed
A former Navy sailor who was convicted on several counts of criminal sexual conduct, and aggravated assault has asked the Supreme Court of Guam to review his conviction and sentence, as justices heard the appeal of Doyle Lamont Perry this morning. Perry is currently serving a 51-year sentence following his conviction of sexually assaulting a woman at Adelup last May.Perry's defense attorney, Howard Trapp, asked the appellate court panel for a new trial, claiming the jury instructions were defective. "Here is what the jury was told: they were told what the elements were. They were told they must find the elements, but they weren't told they had to find each one as such. Then they were told in effect that any one element would do. The instruction we're complaining about is supposed to be a unanimity instruction."Assistant attorney general Maryann Woloschuk opposed the defense request, arguing the instructions were in fact clear and without error. "Your honor," she announced, "I don't see the instruction on the unanimity would permit a juror to ignore all these other elements. The trial court instructed them that in order to return a guilty verdict on this charge that you have to find these things. You can't just skip one of them."Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Torres, along with Associate Justice Philip Carbullido, after hearing arguments said it was clear "errors were made with the jury instructions". The chief justice said, "For purposes of our argument this morning it is error and it is clear error, but how does it affect the substantial rights of the defendant and how does it amount to a miscarriage of justice?"Carbullido added, "The jury to me even if they looked at this set of instructions he still may be confused as to which elements need to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt."Justices have taken the matter under advisement to render an opinion at a later time.