MVarietyNews.com

THIS is to register a complaint with your office concerning the lack of assistance provided to me as a domestic violence victim by the Office of the Victims Rights Advocate in connection with my complaint of the shooting incident of July 2, 2009, the abuse of authority by the Tinian Department of Public Safety in entering my property without my consent, allowing the defendant to have indirect contact with me and trespass my property, and the abuse of authority by the commissioner of the Department of Corrections, Ms. Dolores San Nicolas Aldan, and several officers within the Tinian DPS for their involvement in the incident of Nov. 11, 2009.
First, I’d like to share some background information on this matter so you can understand my frustration. This issue springs from a July 2, 2009 incident when, after an argument, my domestic partner, Vicente Aldan, pointed a gun at me and pulled the trigger several times. This was a very frightening experience to have someone point the gun at me, menacingly pull of the trigger and not knowing whether I was going to be killed with each pull of the trigger. Thankfully, I escaped, barefooted and all but still with my life intact.
Here is my first complaint: Since I filed the complaint until the case was disposed of by means of a guilty plea by the defendant, I was never contacted by the Victims Rights Office or any advocate in that office. No one contacted me to inform me of my rights under the Victims Rights Act. It was only when someone told me of this Act that I found out that the law requires the office to extend such assistance to me and guarantees many rights to victims like myself. I was never informed of my rights under the Act, I was never extended any assistance including assistance with creditors, was never notified of any court proceedings, was not told of nor afforded my right to be present at all court proceedings, never informed of my right to confer with the prosecutor, and did not receive any information regarding the conviction, sentencing, imprisonment, and release of my abuser.
I was never once informed of these rights contained in 6 CMC §§ 9109, et seq. In fact, the only information I got about the status of my case or the whereabouts of my abuser was from the newspapers. I learned that he pleaded guilty, again only by happenstance due to something the Tinian DPS did to me, as I discuss below. Why was I not involved in the plea bargaining? How were my rights as a victim protected if no one bothered to even tell me that the case was moving to a plea agreement? It seems that what happened to me was tossed aside and dealt as unimportant — that my fleeing for my life after the defendant tried to kill me was ignored and belittled.
My second complaint: The Tinian DPS allowed the defendant to trespass on my property without my consent and tricked my daughter into believing that they had authority to enter my property. (I filed a complaint regarding this matter with the Tinian DPS, Case No. 09-000448.) On Nov. 11, 2009 between 10:30 to 10:45 a.m. the Tinian DPS (Officers Wally Villagomez and Elloy Fitial) came to my house (the scene of the July 2, 2009 shooting incident). At that time, I was not at my house but my daughter Vionna Aldan was outside the house. The officers got out of the car and held a piece of paper to Vionna, telling her that they had court papers and that they were there so that the defendant could show the officers where the gun was hidden. (I only learned later that the piece of paper was the judgment and commitment order for the defendant.)
My daughter, noticing that the paper was official looking, just believed the officers that it was a search warrant of something like that; besides, they told her it was papers giving them the right to be there. Pretty soon, the defendant gets out of a rental car that came with the officers in the DPS vehicle, and walked over to the side of the house. The commissioner of the Department of Corrections, Dolores San Nicolas Aldan, also came out of the rental car and accompanied the defendant, Vicente Aldan. What is noteworthy here is that the commissioner is also recently married to Vicente Aldan, the defendant.
My third complaint: The Tinian DPS and Corrections abused their authority. The Tinian DPS, namely the officers in this incident, lied to Vionna that they had authority to be on my property. The paper they used to pretend they had authority, was the judgment and commitment order issued by the court. In fact, I was never served with a copy of the order and it was only after I had gone to the Tinian DPS to file a complaint about this trespass incident that I was given a copy of the order. The order specifically prohibits defendant from having any direct or indirect contact with me, and to surrender the gun he used in the incident. Nowhere on the order does it give the Tinian DPS any authority to be on my property without a search warrant. In addition, why was the commissioner involved in this case if she is the defendant’s spouse? Doesn’t that present a conflict of interest on her part to be involved in protecting her interests, i.e. the interest of her spouse? She should not be involved in this case in any form. What is also interesting is that the case went swiftly from incident to adjudication, indicating that there’s a strong likelihood that she exerted some influence due to her official capacity to get the defendant out of jail (so they can marry), etc.? Did she also have some involvement in making sure that I did not know about the case, not made aware of the proceedings so that I can be heard, because it may delay the adjudication of the case? To what extent was she involved in getting the Tinian DPS to do her bidding, whatever that may be in reference to this case?
Finally, I am concerned that there may be retaliation actions that are being planned against me as a result of my complaining to your office. I have had people tell me to be careful because they have heard from some police officers that I will be targeted (scrutinized for traffic citations, etc.) if I continue to complain. I also was informed that Officer Melvin Monkeya believes that a police officer can enter anyone’s property without any legal documents. I believe he needs to be reminded that such entry without any warrant is only allowable in exigent circumstances and that his position does not give him blanket authority to go anywhere.
I want this entire incident to be thoroughly investigated as to why I was never consulted on any issue relating to my domestic violence case, why were the officer and commissioner allowed to be involved in enabling the defendant to violate the court order of no contact with me, and what solutions will be arrived at to ensure that my rights are protected.

ELLIS F. BARCINAS
San Jose, Tinian