Jury finds ‘MAMA’ not guilty — after she testifies in her own defense

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The jury in the trial of the owner of the LE AUTE Sports & Bar, Tumuatasi Lefatia, a.k.a MAMA acquitted her of all 4 counts of unlawful possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine and marijuana with the intent to distribute.

The six jurors took a little bit over an hour to come up with a verdict at the end of the four day trial in High Court.

Lefatia was in tears as the Clerk of the Court read out the verdict around 3:50p.m yesterday afternoon. Her co-defense attorney, David Vargas reached out to comfort her.

When asked for a comment, Assistant Attorney General, Kristine Soule’ said, “no comment”.

When asked for a comment, Vargas, who assisted Marcellus Talaimalo Uiagalelei said that he thanked the jury for doing a great job, not only did they listen to the evidence but they also followed instructions given by the court.

One juror told Samoa News that there was not enough evidence the government presented to prove their case. She said the evidence presented showed that no illegal drugs were found on Lefatia. Furthermore, so many people had access to the room where a black pouch containing drugs was found and it’s hard to believe the drugs found inside the pouch belonged to Lefatia.

DEFENSE TESTIMONY

The search warrant that was executed by armed detectives of the DPS Vice and Narcotics Unit to the Le Aute Sports & Bar Compound in Malaeloa on the early morning of Sept. 12, 2018 was in the name of “Manu Lefatia”, and the search warrant was “to search for guns and ammunition, not drugs.”

This was the testimony of Tumuatasi Lefatia, a.k.a Mama, who is on trial for violating local drug laws.

Mrs. Lefatia, is accused of violating local drug laws. She is represented by defense team, Marcellus Talaimalo Uiagalelei and David Vargas while prosecuting the case is Assistant Attorney General (AAG) Kristine Soule and new AAG Lilian Langford.

Tumuatasi and her husband, Faafetai Lefatai were the only two witnesses the defense team called to testify on Day-3 of the trial. Mr. Lefatia was the first defense witness to take the stand.

Mr. Lefatia, 55, told members of the jury that he came to American Samoa in 1985 and later married Tumuatasi and they have been together now for 30 years.

According to Mr. Lefatia, he was not at the house when armed police officers raided his home. He went to buy breakfast, but when he returned, police officers were already at his compound.

Mr. Lefatia drafted a sketch of the Le Aute compound so that members of the jury could easily understand and follow his testimony. The drawings indicated that there were three separate structures under a one roof building. The 3 separate buildings include the Pool Table hall, the bedroom and another building containing three other bedrooms and the kitchen.

He explained that the structure containing the room located close to the pool hall is the bedroom he, his wife and children occupy. However, there are other people who also have access to the room.

The room the witness was referring to during his testimony is the same room where his wife, the defendant in this case, Mrs. Lefatia slept with her daughter and grandchildren when officers executed the search warrant.

This issue of other people having access to the room was becoming an issue between the Lefatia couple, according to Mr. Lefatia. He said he always argued with his wife, Tumuatasi whenever he observed people coming in and going out of the room. The room has two doors, each located on separate sides of the room, and both doors remain unlocked at all time.

The witness also testified that there are times he slept with his wife and children inside the room, however, most of the time he sleeps in a room inside their other separate house located behind the pool hall.

In cross examination of the defense witness, prosecutor, Soule questioned the witness as to who owns the room where the defendant was sleeping on the morning of Sept. 12, 2018. The witness replied, “The room belongs to us.”

“Us, who are you referring to?” Soule asked the witness.

Mr. Lefatia replied, “Myself and my wife.”

Soule asked the witness if he and his wife also own the whole structure —  the building where the pool hall is located. The witness said, yes.

Mrs. Lefatia, 47, also took the stand after her husband.

When asked by her attorney, Uiagalelei to describe to the jury where the Le Aute is located, she explained that the Le Aute is located in Malaeloa on the land of the Toilolo family, however, the main entrance is in Futiga.

She described the Le Aute as an open place/ compound and anyone can access it. She runs a small business inside the compound where she operates a small retail store where she sells snacks and also has a pool hall. It’s been 10 years now since she started the small business, according to the witness.

A lot of people come and go to her place to play pool, while others come for shopping, she said.

The place where the pool hall is located is open 24 hours, 6 days a week — except for Sunday where the place is closed.

When Uiagalelei asked Mrs. Lefatia to tell members of the jury what happened on the early morning of Sept. 12, 2018 and where she was on that morning, she paused for a few seconds and was crying.

She recalled that morning where she was awakened when she heard a loud bang on the door to her bedroom where she was sleeping with her 12-year-old daughter and five grandchildren.

“I woke up and saw my children were already awake while police officers were inside the room pointing their gun at me and my children and instructing us to bow our heads down,” Mrs. Lefatia recalled with tears in her eyes.

Uiagalelei recalled to his client the testimony of one of the government’s witnesses, Special Agent Justin Thompson where he stated that he knocked on the door of the room because it was locked and introduced themselves as police officers.

Mrs. Lefatia said that she never heard anybody knock on the door.

When asked about Thompson’s testimony that he used his shoulder to open the door, the witness said, “That’s not right. Thompson used something else to open the door — not only did she hear a loud bang but the door was also damaged.”

Mrs. Lefatia said she woke up and saw officers with guns inside the room. She was wearing a tank top and tights. She then pulled the sheet up to cover herself.  At the same time, officers instructed them to get on the floor with their heads down.

She and her children were then escorted outside of the room and taken to the pool hall.

It was outside the pool hall where she was informed of the search warrant. She was then taken back inside the bedroom to witness the search. As she was making her way to the bed inside the room, a police detective showed her a black pouch and asked if she owned the pouch. In response, Mrs. Lefatia asked the officer — is her name on the black pouch?

 Uiagalelei asked his client if she got a chance to look at the search warrant. The witness replied, “yes”.

According to Mrs. Lefatia, the search warrant was on the name of her son, Manu [Lefatia].

The witness cried.

She told members of the jury the search warrant was to search for weapons and ammunition. Nothing indicated on the search warrant to search for drugs, according to the witness’s testimony.

Uiagalelei asked his client if she owns the black pouch. Her response was, “No”.

She further testified that she was also searched for illegal drugs by a female detective and nothing was found on her.

Police searched the whole building and nothing was found, according to the witness’s testimony.

There was no cross examination by the government.

The defense rested their case after Mrs. Lefatia testified.

After the afternoon break yesterday, attorneys for both parties were given the chance for their closing argument.

Acting Associate Justice Elvis P. Patea gave final jury instructions before the case was given to the jury for deliberation around 3p.m.

(Details of the closing arguments and comments on the acquittal will be in Tuesday’s issue.)