WASHINGTON D.C.— Week three, day seven of the Lt. Gov. Faoa Aitofele Sunia and Sen. Tulifua Tini Lam Yuen trial in the Federal District Court in Washington, D.C., opened in controversy on Monday, with two motions from the defense for Judge Walton to declare a mistrial. The first motion came from Faoa’s defense team and arose from a discovery over the weekend of a statement made by Emma Penn during her pre-trial interviews by the federal investigators.

The statement was discovered in the notes from an interview, but it had not been included in the interview transcript supplied to defense during the pre-trial discovery phase.

The government claimed that the statement’s exclusion from the original transcript was inadvertent and unintentional and apologized for the omission.

The statement dealt with Ms. Penn stating that at one point Faoa told her to deal with his daughter about details of the library furniture project his company was working on. This previously undisclosed statement, the defense claimed, would have had bearing upon their cross-examination of Ms. Penn vis-à-vis the government’s obstruction charge against their client, who allegedly lied to investigators about his involvement with Samoa Furnishings & Handicrafts.

Judge Walton found that there was no intent on the part of the prosecution to conceal information and that he did not see that any harm done to the defense merited declaring a mistrial. The defense would have the opportunity to re-open their cross-examination of Ms. Penn, and the jury would be informed that she was being called back based upon new information made available by the government.

The second motion for mistrial came from Tulifua’s defense team and again had to do with a late addition to a prosecution witness’s discovery testimony. This time it was an addition to the next government witness— Sili Sataua’s— anticipated testimony.

The government had informed the defense that Sili had remembered during his weekend preparation to testify that twenty years ago Tulifua had donated a coffin to his family. Tulifua’s attorney, Michelle Peterson, said that this delayed disclosure would hinder their defense as they had had no advance time to prepare or conduct their own investigation. She asked for recess if not a mistrial.

Judge Walton said he could not see how the defense could be surprised by information that could have come from their own client and did not deem the revelation significant enough for a mistrial or a recess.

Ms. Penn was returned to the stand for a brief re-cross-examination by Faoa’s attorney Emily Henn, which oddly enough did not touch upon her statement or the obstruction charge.

SILI SATAUA

The government’s fourth witness, former ASDOE Director Sili Sataua, was then sworn in and took the stand. Sili is the other confessed and convicted co-conspirator in the case, who has served his thirteen-month prison term in the Federal Holding Facility in Honolulu. Sili, questioned by federal prosecutor Kathryn Albrecht, gave a brief history of his involvement with the school furniture procurement case

An emerging important point in the trial is that there are two separate projects involved. One is the construction and delivery of tables, chairs, and tall book shelves for ASDOE’s 26 elementary school and 6 high school libraries. This project was handled solely by Faoa’s Samoa Furnishings & Handicrafts. 

The second project is the construction and delivery of short, “window” height classroom bookshelves just for the elementary schools. This project was split between Tulifua’s T.P.Lam Yuen Co. and Fa’au’s Samoa Wood Products.

Sili testified that in the fall of 2000, Tulifua called him to inquire about work for his company, and Sili directed the classroom bookshelf project to T.P. Lam Yuen Co. Tulifua determined the number, design, and cost of the classroom bookshelves ($235 each). Sili admitted that he should have put the project out to bid, but “because of political reality, I didn’t ask around.”

At about the same time, Faoa’s company was given the library furniture job without going out to bid.

Asked if the furniture projects had been put out to bid, would the three companies in the alleged conspiracy have had to compete against one another, Sili answered, yes, they would have.

Sili testified that in return for his cooperation and compliance he received money bribes from Fa’au Seumanutafa and Tulifua— $6300 in all— and free help in finishing his new home in Fagasa from Faoa’s and Tulifua’s company workers. And yet another dining room table set, allegedly given as a bribe to Sili by Tulifua.

The defense objected to seemingly every other question from Ms. Albrecht. A lot of time was spent in confabs at the bench.

Ms. Albrecht then led Sili through the course of his conviction, incarceration, cooperation and release from prison on continued supervised release. Sili confessed to his initial misleading or untruthful statements to the ASG SSIC and federal investigators.

“I never felt so little. I tried to downplay and minimize my role, cover up my involvement,” he told the court. “I also held back [from telling the truth] out of my deep respect and loyalty to Tauese Sunia and his family.” It was all just part of the “political machinery.”

Sili did not cooperate with the federal prosecutors and was sentenced to 30 months incarceration and a restitution fine of $62,000 when he pled guilty in January 2005 to charges of conspiring to defraud the federal government and taking bribes. Only in prison, after getting a phone call from his granddaughter, did he decide to fully cooperate with the federal prosecutors and impugn Faoa as well as Tulifua in the alleged conspiracy.

“My loyalty to the Sunias was gone.” “I realized that my granddaughter and my family were there in jail with me.”

His sentence was reduced to time served after he testified before a federal grand jury in Washington. He ended up serving 13 months.

SILI’S CROSS-EXAMINATION

After lunch, Stephen Anthony of Faoa’s team began his cross-examination. For the next three hours he questioned the witness’s veracity and history of lying under oath— to the ASG SSIC, to federal investigators during his initial half dozen interrogations.

Nowhere in the charges to which Sili pled guilty was there anything that indicated that Faoa was involved in the conspiracy. Not until he was already in jail did Sili add the bribery allegations against Faoa to his testimony, before the Washington, D.C., grand jury in January 2007. It was shortly thereafter that his prison term was commuted to time served. A quid pro quo?

Mr. Anthony does establish that there were originally two separate jobs— the library furniture job given to Faoa’s company and the classroom bookshelf job given to Tulifua’s company and later split with Fa’au’s new enterprise. This separation might be of some import as the trial proceeds.

The day ended with Mr. Anthony’s close of his cross-examination. Tuesday, Day 8, will commence with Sili still on the stand and Tulifua’s defense attorney Michelle Peterson cross-examining him.

Do you like getting this coverage online?  Click here