Officials are not releasing information about the charges and details of the crimes allegedly committed by five defendants in the Juvenile Detention Center case.
Commissioner of Public Safety Le’i Sonny Thompson said in response to questions sent him last Thursday, “Obviously I can’t go into detail on the alleged crime and misconduct by the police officers cause of the same concern the Court had already placed a restriction on.”
The commissioner said the alleged crime and misconduct by the officers were reported early last year.
As far as kHJ News has been able to verify, District Court staff have been instructed by Judge Fiti Sunia not to release court filings on the case to media because juveniles are named in the documents.
There has been no order to police or the AG’s office to do the same,.
We have explained to Commissioner Le’i and Attorney Genera;l Talauega Eleasalo Ale, that we are aware of the rules of court reporting and names of juveniles are not used even if they appear in court documents.
KHJ News has urged that for the sake of the public’s right to know, and for informed reporting that the affidavits and complaints for the five defendants be released to the media.
The five defendants in the Juvenile Detention Center case are guards Junior Utuga, Alofagia Letuli, Olafou Wilson and Okesene Alo and the detainee is Aviu Titio.
All are represented by the Public Defender’s Office except for Alo who’s attorney is Sharron Rancourt.
