Court apparently blind-sided by Public Defenders resignation

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The first day in court after the resignation of Public Defender Michael White was not business as usual.

Yesterday morning, Acting Associate Justice Elvis P. Patea issued an Order to Show Cause (OSC) on why White shouldn’t be held in contempt of court for not fulfilling his duties as an officer of the court.

White was not present when his clients appeared in court for their hearings.

Four criminal matters were scheduled for a hearing yesterday morning at 8:30a.m before Patea — two for sentencing and the other two for pretrial conferences.

When the first case was called, the defendant walked to the front and sat alone at the defense table while the two assistant attorneys general that appeared for the government sat at the prosecutor’s table.

Patea acknowledged the presence of the two government attorneys.

Patea asked if the government was aware of what is going on with the Public Defender’s office. Assistant Attorney General Stephanie Rogers responded, “Yes”.

She explained that White submitted his resignation letter to the Governor’s Office last Thursday, June 30 and his resignation was effective today (yesterday, July 5).

Rogers further told the court that the Attorney General’s office had been notified about the situation by the Governor’s Office yesterday morning.

When questioned whether the court received any notice from White regarding his resignation, the Clerk of the Court said, no.

Patea then instructed the four defendants that each of their cases would be continued until the court heard from their attorney.

Samoa News visited the PD’s office yesterday morning and was told by the staff that they were shocked to learn their boss had resigned from his post.

One employee said White never mentioned to them anything about his resignation.

“Here we are sitting in the dark without a boss and we don’t know what to do,” one employee said.

Another employee said they didn’t know anything about their boss’s resignation until they read the story on the Samoa News website and Facebook.

White submitted his resignation letter to the Governor’s office last Thursday, the same date he confirmed it to Samoa News. However, when asked about his resignation, White did not want to discuss his reasons for stepping  down from his Cabinet position.