The judge dismissed the defendants’ cases regarding the drowning danger and death of the little boy | News

Superior Court Judge Alberto C. Lamorena III granted Jonarie Marie Reyes Cruz’s petition to reassign her case to John Paul Sayama Charfauros.

Both are defendants charged with various felonies in the August 2024 death of Cruz’s infant son.

Charfauros, the victim’s stepfather, is charged with murder, while Cruz faces the lesser charge of child abuse.

Charfauros is being held on $250,000 bail; Cruz’s bail is $3,000.

Cruz is represented by Alternate Public Defender Leonardo Rapadas, while Deputy Attorney General Jacob Wagner represents the People.

In his motion, Cruz argued that a joint investigation would unfairly harm him by violating his rights under the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment.

The judge went further, saying a joint investigation would unfairly harm both Cruz and Charfauros.

Lamorena explained that the Sixth Amendment provides the defendant with the right to confront witnesses against him, including the right to cross-examine.

But he said this conflicted with the defendant’s privilege against self-incrimination, and both defendants risked being denied the right to cross-examine if the admissions were used against other defendants.

Lamorena said there may be a few pieces of evidence that are admissible in the case against Cruz or Charfauros but not against each other.

Background

According to charging documents, at a family pool party held in Dededo on July 4, 2024, Charfauros decided to teach the boy, TC, how to swim.

He allegedly told police he “went so far as to teach him to swim and play horseback” but denied harming the boy.

Police reviewed 90 minutes of video footage in which Charfauros allegedly submerged the child’s head for several seconds at a time and also struck the child multiple times.

The complaint stated that the child’s screams could be heard when he put his head above the water and was able to breathe.

Documents state that Cruz brought his son to the hospital on July 4th and allegedly told staff there that his son had slipped and fallen into the water for more than a minute. Cruz also asked others to lie on his behalf, according to the complaint.

On July 6, doctors at Guam Memorial Hospital declared the child brain dead, and on July 7, his parents terminated life support, according to documents.

Charfauros faces a special allegation of murder as a first-degree felony, aggravated assault as a second-degree felony and use of a deadly weapon in the commission of a felony for each charge.

Cruz faces a third-degree felony charge of child abuse, as well as misdemeanor charges of destroying evidence and tampering with a witness.

The incident might have gone unnoticed if a relative had not called Guam police on July 8 and asked them to look into her nephew’s death. He told police the death was suspicious because no one called the police.

Following a police investigation, Cruz and Charfauros were arrested on July 31, 2024.

Pacific Daily News reporter Jojo Santo Tomas covers all topics of interest, including sports. Email him at [email protected].