Defense wants lawyer removed from Valentine’s Day murder case | News

The defense is seeking the dismissal of the prosecutor in the Valentine’s Day murder case due to a conflict of interest.

A controversial debate erupted Monday between prosecutor Curtis Charles Van de Veld and defense attorney Richard Johnson as murder suspect Domingo C. Mendiola appeared before Judge Alberto Lamorena in Superior Court.

The defense filed a motion to remove Van de Veld from the case, citing his dual role as prosecutor and defense attorney.

Johnson argues that Van de Veld’s involvement in both roles creates shared interests and potential bias and violates the rules of professional conduct.

“The rule itself expressly states that there is a significant risk that the representation of another client will be significantly limited by the lawyer’s responsibilities to another client, a former client, a third person or by personal interests in the lawyer,” said Johnson. “Today, Mr. Van De Veld works for the public prosecutor’s office and at the same time spends time filing a criminal defense application. This creates a shared interest.”

Johnson claims that Van de Veld’s work for both the prosecution and his defense lawyers creates this conflict.

However, Van de Veld responded that no confidential communications had been exchanged and there was no customer relationship with Mendiola.

“This defendant was never one of my clients. “Well, this concept that somehow because I talk to other people, I in turn use their services, that somehow creates a customer relationship is just not true,” Van de Veld said. “That’s just not the law. That’s not what the rules are designed to protect. They are supposed to protect and not take sides. They are intended to ensure that a lawyer has actually received some information from a client in the course of a representation that could now be used to the benefit of the new client to the detriment of a previous client, and that this has not happened.”

He also argued that he was employed on a case-by-case basis and did not have access to the attorney general’s office records.

Mendiola’s next hearing will be scheduled at a later date pending Lamorena’s decision on the motion.

The fatal robbery on February 14 resulted in the death of 53-year-old Sumittra Lairopi, a wife and mother of three, who was shot in the parking lot of Thai Thai Healthy Cuisine Restaurant in Tamuning. She was the second victim of a fatal robbery this year.

Mendiola faces multiple charges, including aggravated murder, first-degree robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, theft of a motor vehicle, possession of a controlled substance and firearms-related offenses, as well as two misdemeanors.

Mendiola’s co-defendant, Jenna Manibusan, is charged with complicity in the commission of aggravated murder, complicity in the commission of first-degree robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery – each a first-degree felony. She is also charged with aiding and abetting theft of a motor vehicle as a second-degree felony and theft by receiving as a third-degree felony.