If you weren't familiar with convicted murderer Janus Tabbada before, you most certainly are now. His face and name are on billboards posted in different intersections on the island. The island's attorney general says it's to spread awareness, while a couple of other residents express what they think about it. 

You can't miss the billboards from the Attorney General’s Office, with a mugshot of Tabbada and the sign showing the words “life sentence”  in red.  The images pop-up at busy intersections such as at the tri-intersection in Barrigada. 

Many have noticed it, like Cristina Gozo, who told KUAM News she sees it everyday, being from the central village.

Tabbada pleaded guilty to shooting and killing Edward Bamba in Dededo last year and he got a life sentence earlier this year.  AG Doug Moylan said the signs are a message to the community to respect one another and follow the law. 

"We’re all held to the same standards. The billboards you see out there is part of that education campaign that for every act, there’s going to be a consequence and it’s not from the attorney general, that’s from our Guam legislature, as well as our courts and especially the men and women in our community who sit in our juries," he said.

"Our community is sick of crime right now and they’re sick of not just theft, which is a non-violent-type crime, but they’re sick of the sexual predators, the murders, the rapists, everything that’s not following our laws."

While there is some understanding from the public, Gozo and Yona resident Richard Taitague believe that Tabbada should not be put on display that way. "It warns the one's doing not good, right?" said Gozo. "But, but you know, seeing it every day, it's like it's tiring. Instead of you being inspired, right? It's like, every day you're seeing it, it doesn't seem right."

"It's unfair. He's not the only one that did this in Guam, right? Yeah. How about the other ones right? It's like he is the one he's being pinned down."

 

And Taitague added, "I don't think they should put his picture up there at all. Because there's other community crimes out there and they don't have their pictures out in front of all the public that, but I guess they're using it as an example."

"If you started that trend, putting up his picture, what about the others that are coming up? Are you going to be putting up your pictures, too?"

Another person who has seen the signs is Tabbada's defense attorney, James Spivey. He told KUAM News he sees nothing wrong with it, seemingly agreeing with Moylan. Spivey said, ”I can't think of any way that it violates my client's rights - his conviction is a matter of public record. But, perhaps billboards like these, after a conviction, will serve as a deterrent.”