Court calls out cops for conflicting testimony under oath


 

Chris Champion

Guam Police Department officer Chris Champion is again the subject of controversy involving alleged misconduct. He and another police officer are named in an April 1 decision and order from Judge Vernon Perez that suppressed the admission of evidence in a case involving drugs and an illegal firearm.

The judge suppressed the evidence – obtained from a January 2, 2020 car search – following testimonies by officers Chris Champion and Benjamin Cruz. The pair interviewed the defendant in the case – Benny Nauta, Jr. – following a traffic stop for a defective license light that day that led to a search of Nauta’s car. That search led to Nauta’s arrest after police found a revolver, and a meth pipe with suspected meth residue in it. Mr. Nauta moved to throw out the evidence and, thus, the charges, telling the court he twice denied the officers their request to search his car.

“The Court, however, is unable to ascertain whether Defendant actually gave informed and voluntary consent to a search of his vehicle,” Mr. Perez wrote in his decision and order. “Both Officer Cruz and Officer Champion testified that Defendant objected at first to the request to search the truck.”

According to the background Judge Perez gave in his decision and order, Mr. Cruz pulled over Mr. Nauta for a defective license plate light and expired registration decal. He then noticed there was an adult passenger and four children in the front seat of a single cab pickup truck. Mr. Nauta did not have a driver’s license. The cop asked the defendant to step out of the truck, then patted him down for weapons or drugs. He found none. He then asked Mr. Nauta if he had any illegal drugs or weapons, to which he denied.

“Officer Cruz asked Defendant if he could search the vehicle, to which Defendant responded no,” Mr. Perez wrote.

Mr. Cruz did not allow him to leave the scene and told him to call for a ride. His parents showed up. Other officers began to show up as well; Cruz would not let Nauta leave the scene and told Nauta to wait. He did not give Mr. Nauta a reason for the delay.

About an hour later, Mr. Champion showed up (the last cop to arrive).

“Defendant testified that Officer Champion asked him to search his vehicle, to which Defendant again responded no,” Mr. Perez wrote. “Defendant testified that after Officer Champion asked Defendant the second time, he told him that if he let him search the vehicle that he would not be arrested, that he would be able to be picked up and go home. Defendant testified that was why he agreed to let Officer Champion search the vehicle. Defendant testified that he was hesitant at first because he did not want to agree, but said yes after Officer Champion said ‘you just got to trust me.’ Defendant testified that Officer Champion asked him three to four times to search the vehicle.”

The two police officers, under separate testimony before the court, pointed at each other on the accusation one or both of them caused an illegal search of Mr. Nauta’s vehicle.

“The Officers … gave conflicting testimony as to how Defendant subsequently changed his mind and consented to a search of the truck,” Mr. Perez wrote. “Officer Cruz testified that Defendant did not change his mind until he spoke with Officer Champion, and Officer Champion testified that Defendant changed his mind after further speaking with Officer Cruz.”

If Mr. Nauta’s version of events is true, then it was Mr. Champion, who illegally manipulated consent of the vehicle search.

“Defendant testified that he objected to the search and only consented after Officer Champion promised him that he would not get in trouble or arrested if he consented to the search,” Mr. Perez wrote. “Not only does Defendant’s testimony conflict with the officers, but the officers’ testimonies conflict with each other. Accordingly, the Government has not proven voluntary consent by a preponderance of the evidence and any evidence seized from Defendant’s truck must be suppressed.”

Reliance on police testimony now in question

“This decision and order now raises questions about the testimonies these two officers may have made in the past, and certainly will raise doubts on any testimony they give in the future,” an attorney commented on condition of anonymity.

Mr. Champion was the subject of a police investigation last year regarding his conduct in the matter of the red Jeep that crashed into Jerry’s Kitchen. The former member of the now-disgraced Mandana Drug Task Force was the responding officer on the scene, which involved a well-connected Guam Police Department officer, whose father is under criminal indictment on allegations he abused his power in law enforcement.

Several members of the Mandana Drug Task Force have been subjects of various investigations related to criminal and administrative misconduct. The task force was created by former Lt. Gov. Ray Tenorio, a former cop who was on trial himself for grabbing a police officer’s gun at a crowded Tumon block party in the summer of 2018. That encounter led to his humiliating defeat by now-Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero in November that year. He fled Guam to live in a small North Carolina town shortly after he was acquitted in 2019.

Police Chief Stephen Ignacio disbanded the Mandana Drug Task Force in the months following Tenorio’s departure after multiple reports of police corruption were lodged against some of its members.


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