Villagomez says media 'corrupted' community blares the Saipan Tribune headline.
That's a bit sensational. Maybe 'tainted' or 'influenced' would have been better.
It's not Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Villagomez actually, apparently the 'quote' was lifted from a motion filed by attorney David Lujan. The 'air of prejudice' against public officials? Well, yeah. Go figure.
It would be hard to argue otherwise. If you're looking for a juror who hasn't heard of charges against the CNMI's Lieutenant Governor, start looking now. Ask around, and you'll have a hard time finding anyone who hasn't already decided on his guilt or been influenced by the media.
Bombast aside, Lujan wants to use a questionnaire to check for biased jurors instead of oral questioning. That's perfectly reasonable; in fact all jurors would be asked the same questions the same way without lawyers popping up with objections.
I just wouldn't want to be one of those jurors. Villagomez has a large family and has gathered friends and enemies throughout his political career. You'd be accused of bias whatever the verdict.
Also, I haven't felt the urge to run away and join the circus for years.
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This is already heading well in the direction of a defense that's not out to prove "not guilty" but one looking for faulty evidence collection, media manipulation and other means of gaining a mistrial. What a shame.....or did I mean sham?
Ah, well. It's SOP for the defense to throw out 'theories', even wild ones, hoping something will stick.
An ugly system, but it's served us pretty well.
And the media get a lot of stories.
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