Chief Justice Michael Kruse told prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Office that if the government is going to be sluggish with prosecution, he’s going to dismiss some of the cases before the court.
The Chief Justice made the comment during the pre-trial conference for defendant Ta’auso Fa’afetai Siliga.
Siliga’s case was one of several cases which were continued from Friday’s calendar due to the absence of Deputy Attorney General, Mitize Jessop-Ta’ase.
Jessop-Taase was the attorney for a few of the cases which were on Friday’s calendar.
In response to questions from the Chief Justice on why the Deputy AG was not in court, Assistant AG’s Robert Picket and Tyler Ganzel said she was sick.
The prosecutors were in the dark about the cases and could not answer the court’s questions during the hearing.
With Siliga’s case, Counsel Ganzel informed the court that there is a delay with the police report.
Chief Justice Kruse ordered that a subpoena be issued for the investigative officer to appear at the next hearing of this case and to bring the report with him.
