Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A 24-year old man who received a lot chances from the court was ordered to serve all of his suspended sentences, which total up to 27 years.

Timothy Noa appeared before the High Court last Friday for a Deposition Hearing, after he failed to comply with some of the conditions of his probation.

The defendant did not wish to make any statement to the court when he was given the opportunity to address the court prior to the judges’ decision.

His attorney, public defender Douglas Fiaui addressed the court on his client’s behalf, where the tried his best to persuade the court to give his client another chance.

According to Fiaui, his client is a young man who has an anger problem in his domestic relationship and his anger had brought him before the court many times. He was sentence by the Family, Drug & Alcohol (FDA) court in 2016 and ordered to serve 12 months at the Territorial Correction Facility (TCF).

Immediately after his release, he was brought back to court again on allegations of violating conditions of his probation set by FDA.

Fiaui told the court that the government’s recommendation is to revoke his client’s probation and order him to serve a total of the 27 years that had been suspended by the court when he was sentenced.

“If my client’s probation is revoked he will lose many years of his life. For the time he already served in prison, he has already lost many years of his life. I humbly ask the court to please not accept the recommendation by the probation officer, but sentence my client to a probated sentence,” Fiaui asked the court.

“Your client does not wish to be heard?” Chief Justice Michael Kruse asked. Fiaui responded, “Yes, he doesn’t want to address the court.”

Kruse explained that when probated sentences are imposed there are rules with which the defendant must comply and when they don’t, there is no recourse except to revoke the probation.

Prosecutor Christy Dunn then asked the court to accept the recommendation by the probation officer to revoke probation and order the defendant to serve the suspended period of his detention.

“After I reviewed all of his criminal records and the circumstances surrounding all of his cases, the government feels that revoking probation is the best option,” Dunn said.

After a brief meeting by the Judges in chambers, Kruse said that the only option available to the court is to accept the Probation Office’s recommendation to revoke the defendant’s probation and order him to serve the suspended terms of imprisonment which totals 27 years.

BACKGROUND

Police arrested Noa on December 23, 2012 for assaulting his wife. Police received a call from a woman claiming the defendant assaulted her that morning. The victim told police that Noa had threatened to kill her if he was arrested.

The woman also told police that Noa was making unreasonable noises and was yelling profanities on the road and in front of their neighbor’s house. The victim requested that police officers take her to the hospital, because the defendant struck her several times on the facial area.

Court filings indicate the defendant was not intoxicated at the time of the incident.

Police also noted in the court filings the defendant was acting disorderly while he was being interviewed and hitting his head on the wall repeatedly and saying he wanted to kill himself.

Noa was initially charged with several counts but under a plea agreement with the prosecutors, he pled guilty to four felony counts — burglary second degree, false imprisonment, resisting arrest and domestic assault in the third degree.

In June 2014, Noa was sentences to 28 months imprisonment, one of the conditions of his seven-year probation.

In 2016, Noa was arrested again for assaulting his wife, where he was convicted of domestic assault in the second degree and was sentenced by the FDA court to serve a term of 12 months, one of the conditions of this five-year probation sentence.

After serving his 12 months detention, while out, Noa was re-arrested for not complying with conditions of his 2014 probation; and is now ordered by the court to serve all suspended periods of his detention, which total 27 years.