David Lujan Sablan v. People of the Territory of Guam

David Lujan Sabían has appealed his second-degree murder conviction imposed upon him by the District Court for the Territory of Guam. Sabían was indicted for the 4th-of-July murder of a young soldier, Thomas R. Lemon, Jr., shot to death while standing in a saloon.

The evidence presented to the jury was that Sabían and a friend had visited the tavern (Carmen’s Place) two days before the killing and that Sabían had been refused service by the bar’s management at that time. On American Independence Day, Sabían met David Torres at a small roadside store. Torres was carrying a .45 caliber pistol in his pantwaist. Later on, Sabían and Torres joined two more friends in Torres’ automobile. There was testimony that while driving about, Sabían suggested to the others: “Let’s go shoot up Carmen's Place.”

Two of the companions not charged as accomplices to the murder (Joseph Evaristo and Jesse Perez) testified at the trial that Sabían and Torres conceived of a plan to attack Carmen’s Place. In essence, the pían was that Torres and Sabían would drive past the tavern on Sablan’s motorcycle and that Evaristo and Perez would drive Torres’ ear to a 24-hour wake being held in the village of Yigo.…