by Mindy Aguon
Guam - Former Retirement Fund director John Rios appeared in the Superior Court of Guam this morning and pleaded not guilty and waived his rights to a speedy trial. His attorney, Mike Phillips, says they're looking forward to all the evidence being presented in the case. Although scheduled, co-defendant former governor Carl Gutierrez was not present at today's hearing.
"I believe that former governor Gutierrez is off-island, or for some reason or another was not able to appear today. But it's not because we're separating the cases," Phillips said.
Over the last several years, Rios and Gutierrez have been in and out of court. The two are accused of devising a scheme to enhance Gutierrez's retirement benefits. Those charges previously were dismissed a second time, but Guam's high court-found that the trial court misapplied the statutes when the second indictment charges were thrown out.
Rios' attorney though is confident his client will prevail again, as Phillips continued, "I don't think that there's been anyone else that has found anything that my clients behavior was proper and there's nothing illegal."
The prosecutor meanwhile agreed to have Gutierrez appear in court for his arraignment next week. Gutierrez is running for governor in the upcoming Decision 2010 General Election with Senator Frank Aguon, Jr.