The Office of the Attorney General has been ordered to try to bring a witness back to Guam for the trial of Nicholas Moore on charges of shooting a man in Agana Heights in 2020.
Moore appeared in the Superior Court of Guam on Friday morning for a pretrial conference in a case where he is accused of a shooting in Agana Heights in 2020, as he is expected to go back to trial on April 30.
The hearing before Judge Vernon Perez was held two days after Perez ruled on a motion for dismissal made by Moore’s defense counsel. The argument for dismissal was based on the fact the Office of the Attorney General allowed Moore’s co-defendant in the case, Eric Salone, to leave island.
According to Post files, Salone pleaded guilty to being with Moore on the night of the Agana Heights shooting and testified at Moore’s first trial in October 2022. A mistrial was declared in Moore’s first trial and Salone has since relocated from Guam.
Moore’s defense team argued that by not having Salone present at the upcoming trial, Moore’s constitutional rights were violated. Additionally, Moore’s counsel noted Guam law does not allow subpoenas to be served to individuals outside of Guam.
Perez eventually denied the motion to dismiss Moore’s case, however, he ordered the Office of the Attorney General “to continue its efforts to ascertain whether or not Salone is able to immediately return to Guam to testify at trial,” Perez wrote in his order issued Wednesday.
In the Friday hearing, prosecutor Sean E. Brown said he would make his best efforts to get Salone to trial but “unless he gets on a plane willingly, there’s not much we can do.” Brown also floated the idea of getting Salone to appear in court virtually.
Additionally, Brown was tasked with going over Salone’s testimony given at Moore’s first trial and sorting out “inconsistencies” between the testimony and police reports to see if Salone had perjured himself while on the stand. According to Post files, Salone testified for several days and at different points admitted to lying to the police during their investigation.
Brown said since Salone testified for 14 hours in total at Moore’s first trial, going through all of it would not be “feasible.” Brown did say, however, he would try his best to get it done.
In response, William Gavras, who is one of Moore’s three attorneys, said Brown has the ability to bring Salone to Guam under the terms of Salone’s probation. According to Post files, Salone pleaded guilty to his involvement in the Agana Heights shooting under the condition he would cooperate with the prosecution and be placed on probation for three years.
Gavras further said the “bigger issue” was Brown not complying with Perez’s order, asserting it wasn’t feasible for him to review all 14 hours of testimony, because Moore is entitled to have exculpatory evidence turned over to his attorneys for trial.
Perez, rather than make any decisions on arguments made on Friday, scheduled parties to return on April 29.
