The People of the Territory of Guam v. Carlos B. Cepeda

The major question for decision in this appeal from the Appellate Division of the District Court of Guam is whether the Superior Court of Guam’s improper admission into evidence of nonexpert opinion testimony constituted harmless error. Appellant Carlos Cepeda was indicted by a territorial grand jury on eight counts of theft, four counts of forgery, and one count of inducing false testimony. He was tried before the Superior Court of Guam and convicted by a jury on all counts. The trial court imposed an extended term of imprisonment of 20 years for the theft counts, to run concurrently with a six-month sentence for inducing false testimony and four four-year sentences for forgery. The Appellate Division of the District Court of Guam affirmed Cepeda’s convictions and sentence. We will reverse.

Jurisdiction in the Appellate Division was proper under 48 U.S.C. § 1424-3 (a). Our jurisdiction on appeal is proper based on 48 U.S.C. § 1424-3 (c). Cepeda timely filed his notice of appeal under Rule 4(b), Fed.R. App.P.

I.

Cepeda was employed as a loan officer by the Guam Economic Development Authority (GEDA) during 1982 and 1983. The jury found that he used this position to steal in…