Murderer was supposed to be in jail the night she killed Danny Sanchez


 

Would former Umatac Mayor Daniel Sanchez be alive today, spending time with his family and hitting the gym, if his murderer was not in Umatac on April 1, 2021?

A jury in an ongoing trial began listening to evidence today in a case, where prosecutors are trying to prove that Rudy Quinata also killed Mr. Sanchez that evening in Umatac. We state ‘also,’ because another jury in February convicted Mr. Quinata’s girlfriend, Joyner Scott Sked, of murdering the former mayor.

Witness testimony in her trial suggested she corrupted Quinata and that the events that night cascaded at her behest, culminating in Sanchez’s brutal murder.

Pondering whether Sanchez would be alive today if Sked was not in Umatac that night would not be so far-fetched an illusion. At the time she murdered the former mayor and police officer, Joyner Scott Sked was not supposed to be in Umatac. She was supposed to be in Hagatna — at the detention center, in jail.

Like convicted murderers before her, Ms. Sked had a history of violence that progressed prior to the April 2021 butchering of the respected former mayor.

Three warrants for her arrest

Joyner Sked’s April 16, 2020 mugshot for CM144-20

Records in three misdemeanor violence cases from crimes that occurred as early as months before the murder show three judges issued warrants for the arrest of Sked for violations of court orders in three cases. Judiciary of Guam Marshals were responsible for finding, arresting, and bringing Sked before those two judges and sending her to jail.

Some time between November and December 2020, a judge issued a bench warrant for Marshals to arrest Sked over a violation of a court order in CM043-17, a misdemeanor crime that occurred in 2017.

Joyner Sked’s November 3, 2020 mugshot in CM465-20

Judge Jonathan Quan issued the next warrant on December 2, 2020 at 10 a.m., or four months and a few hours before she murdered Sanchez. According to the bench warrant, Ms. Sked failed to appear for her arraignment in CM465-20, a child abuse case for which she was arrested in Sinajana November 3, 2020.

According to the magistrates complaint against her, Ms. Sked told police different stories, when asked where she was, when her toddler son ventured out of her home and onto the road. “Is noteworthy to mention,” prosecutor Leonardo Rapadas wrote in his declaration of probable cause against her to the court, “that Sked has open cases in CM0343-17 and CM 144-20.

CM144-120 was brought about by Sked’s April 15, 2020 arrest for family violence. That arrest happened just a little less than a year before she murdered Sanchez. Both she and Quinata were arrested in that case for physically assaulting each other at a residence on Jose Quinata St. in Umatac.

On February 11, 2021, less than two months prior to the murder, the court issued a third bench warrant for her arrest for violating the conditions imposed upon her in that case.

Joyner Sked’s April 5, 2021 mugshot in the murder of Danny Sanchez

Why wasn’t she taken into custody before the murder?

According to the Judiciary of Guam’s latest staffing pattern, taxpayers fund the salaries of nearly 100 men and women in the Guam Marshals service; 77 deputy marshals along with their supervisors and the chief marshal, and 19 paid volunteer marshal reservists.

Kandit has asked the Judiciary for documents indicating when Marshals, during the period of the bench warrants, went out to look for Ms. Sked prior to her arrest by police. We also asked whether, if no such documents exist, or can be publicly released, the Judiciary may inform us how many times Marshals went out to look for Ms. Sked during the period of the warrants.

Court spokesman Michael Kilayko said officials are gathering information for release Friday.

Police failed to act

According to defense attorney Peter Santos’s opening statements in the Quinata trial, his client tried to file a complaint against Sked at the Agat police precinct. P0lice officers refused to take the complaint and instead laughed at Quinata, according to Santos.

‘You want to file a restraining order against that little girl?’ Santos said the police asked Quinata, mockingly.

The account was corroborated by defense witness Dorothea Santiago, who testified Quinata was continuously physically abused by Sked.


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