PEOPLE OF the TERRITORY OF GUAM, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Francis A.C. CRUZ, Defendant-Appellant
Opinion
Opinion
O'Scannlain, J.
We are called upon to decide whether late-produced discovery and a prosecutor’s comment in closing argument tainted a criminal trial.
I
On July 16, 1988, while driving his car, Cruz witnessed his former girlfriend and a male individual riding on a motorcycle. He gave chase, caught up to the motorcycle, and overran it. With his former girlfriend pinned underneath his ear, Cruz crawled under the car and shot and killed her. He also wounded her male companion.
Cruz was indicted under Guam law for murder as a first degree felony, aggravated assault as second degree felony, and two counts of possession and use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony. He relied on the defense of not guilty by reason of mental illness, disease or defect. A Superior Court of Guam jury convicted him on all counts, and he appealed to the Appellate Division of the United States District Court for the District of Guam. That court affirmed the conviction, People of the Territory of Guam v. Francis A.C. Cruz, 1994 W.L. 550110 (D.Guam Oct. 4, 1994), and he now appeals to this court.
II
A
Cruz first argues that the trial court erred when, upon learning that the prosecution had inadvertently failed…