Attorney Joaquin “Jack” Torres has to explain to Judge Kenneth Govendo why he shouldn’t be sanctioned for violating his profession’s code of conduct when he served an allegedly frivolous subpoena on a citizen who had nothing to do with the criminal charges against his client, Shayne Villanueva.
Mr. Torres is the older brother of former Governor Ralph Torres. The charge Mr. Villanueva faces stems from his connection to and work for the Torres administration and its misuse of federal pandemic funds.
The citizen Mr. Torres subpoenaed was Cristina “Tina” Sablan. She was served the subpoena on December 31, which commanded her to appear every day of the Villanueva criminal trial until she is called to testify in it or until his attorney dismissed her from appearing in the case.
Mr. Villanueva faces prison and fines for criminal contempt of the legislature. The corruption prosecutor alleges the former CNMI Republican Party officer and Ralph Torres supporter broke the law in 2024, when he refused to provide truthful answers to a legislative panel that investigated the corrupt use of federal pandemic funds.
“I asked Mr. Torres why I was subpoenaed to testify in his client’s trial when I was not involved in his client’s case. I stated that I had not been in the legislature that held Defendant Villanueva in contempt, nor had I been involved in the contempt referral to the Attorney General for prosecution,” Ms. Sablan wrote to Mr. Govendo in her motion Monday to quash the subpoena on several grounds. “Mr. Torres said that he did not know what I would testify about and had ‘not figured that out.’ He also told me, ‘I don’t know what you have.'”
Representing herself, she convinced Judge Govendo in her motion to require Mr. Torres to show cause why he should not be sanctioned for burdening her with the subpoena.
In an affidavit accompanying her motion, Ms. Sablan told the judge that as soon as she received the subpoena, she called Mr. Torres and explained to him that she had nothing to do with the case and asked him why she was needed to testify.
“Mr. Torres further stated that I was being subpoenaed by the defense solely because my name had appeared on the government’s witness list,” she wrote in the affidavit. “Mr. Torres stated that he did not know why I was on the government’s witness list. I informed Mr. Torres that I also did not know.”
The former member of the CNMI House of Representatives then asked the attorney general’s office whether and why her name was on their witness list, and she confirmed that “the government has not issued a subpoena for my testimony, and that the Office of the Attorney General would support my motion to quash the defense’s subpoena. The Attorney General asked if I was being subpoenaed in my personal or official capacity; I said I did not know, and that it appeared the defense did not know that either.”
Ms. Sablan said she tried to work with Mr. Torres to either release her from the subpoena, or find some way of appearing in court whenever he would have figured out what he needed her to testify about. She produced evidence of her one-way ticket to Hawaii purchased on December 7 for a flight out of Saipan January 11 and offered to come back to testify on the date he would call her to the stand if the defense would pay for her trip. She also offered to testify remotely from Hawaii or to be deposed before she leaves Saipan.
Despite this, Mr. Torres refused to release Ms. Sablan from the subpoena.
“To date, neither Mr. Torres nor Mr. Chambers [Mr. Villanueva’s other attorney], nor the prosecution for that matter, has explained what I would testify about in the criminal case against Mr. Villanueva,” she wrote to the court.
“Given that I am unemployed at this time, and have made plans to depart Saipan on January 11, 2025 and seek gainful employment thereafter, the defense’s subpoena will cause me significant, undue burden and unwarranted economic harm by forcing me to return to Saipan at my own expense or to cancel my travel plans and disrupt my efforts to secure my livelihood – all for a trial with respect to which neither side can say what I will actually testify about,” she wrote.
Judge Govendo agreed with her.
“Based upon a review of all pleadings, affidavits, and relevant law, and for the reasons stated herein, Sablan’s Motion is GRANTED,” Mr. Govendo wrote in an order issued Tuesday. “It is ORDERED that the Subpoena Ad Testificandum filed on December 27, 2024, and served on Sablan on December 31, 2024, is QUASHED.”
The judge further ordered Mr. Torres to answer by January 27, why the court should not sanction him.
“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Joaquin DLG Torres, Esq. (hereby “J. Torres”), counsel for Defendant Villanueva, shall show cause as to why he should not be sanctioned for wasting court resources and filing a frivolous, unduly burdensome subpoena on a third party,” Mr. Govendo wrote in his order. “In its Order dated December 4, 2024, the Court previously admonished J. Torres and warned him about the possibility of sanctions if misconduct was attributed to him.”
It should be noted that Ms. Sablan was among fewer than a handful of legislators in the 22nd Commonwealth Legislature who began an investigation into former Governor Ralph Torres that eventually led to his impeachment for crimes of corruption.
