CNMI Attorney General will appeal ruling that disqualifies office from prosecuting former Governor Torres

The CNMI Attorney General will appeal the Superior Court’s ruling that disqualifies the entire office from prosecuting former governor Ralph Torres’ criminal case. Special Prosecutor James Kingman said it’s not over. 

“The opinion is wrong. The order is wrong. It is stated that the sole prosecuting authority can not prosecute the executive, which the entire purpose of making the AG’s office independent was to provide that separation,” said Kingman. 

KUAM asked Kingman what the path forward looks like. 

“The judge set a hearing for October 14th for any pending matters…but there will be appellate action before then…There’s timelines and dates that would come into play before October 14th,” he said.

“It has been very clear from the beginning that the strategy was going to be delay, frustrate, and throw up roadblocks regardless of how disconnected from reality the arguments are and pretend that they have some sort of legitimacy. As soon as rulings started coming down, I recognized what was afoot, so none of this has been surprising. That does not mean that it is good or right, it is not,” he added. 

The former Governor's defense team said in a statement, “The Court's ruling is consistent with past precedence.” They said that the ruling ensures “that the prosecution of former Governor Torres proceeds fairly and lawfully.”

At least one Senate and House lawmaker has called for oversight of the courts after the ruling. 

“There are both House and Senate committees specifically for the judiciary…If they want to exercise their oversight authority it is certainly something that they have,” he said. 

KUAM asked, “You would support that?” and Kingman replied, “Someone has got to do the oversight and they certainly have the power to.”