American Samoa Government v Naufa'amu [2013] ASHC 51; DCR 421-13 (18 July 2013)

HIGH COURT OF AMERICAN SAMOA

AMERICAN SAMOA GOVERNMENT, Plaintiff,

v.

IETI NAUFA'AMU, Defendant.

District Court of American Samoa

DCR 421-13

July 18, 2013

[1] Under A.S.C.A. § 47.0402, the mandatory fine for a domestic or family violence crime conviction of $150.00 is paid to the court.

[2] The Court may use up to one-third of the fines under A.S.C.A. § 47.0402 to off-set its costs of collection and deposit as well as to cover filing fee waivers costs and preparation costs of forms required under Title 47 A.S.C.A. The balance of the fines, after such authorized Court costs are subtracted, are deposited quarterly in the A.S.G. General Fund and earmarked for victim services, training, a batterer's counseling program, and other uses.

[3] A.S.C.A. § 47.0102 applies to all of the chapters in Title 47 even though it restricts the applications of the definitions to "[a]s used in this chapter." This appears to have been an oversight or misprint, because the definitions are used throughout the remaining chapters of this Title.

[4] The list of the "crimes within the crime" presented in Section 47.0401(a) sets forth broad categories of criminal behavior and does not reference or identify the corresponding Title 46 crimes; however, the Court presumes the Legislature when listing these "crimes" intended Title 46 crimes to be the "crimes" within the crime of domestic and family violence.

[5] When Title 46—Criminal Justice—was enacted in 1979, it not only codified the bulk of the Territory's criminal offense and infraction statutes in that Title, but also established how criminal offense and infraction statutes established under different titles of A.S.C.A. were to be classified and charged, as well as how much cases were to be adjudicated and the punishment for violations imposed.

[6] Because the Legislature did not amend or provided exemption from the controlling Title 46 criminal law sections when enacting Title 47 in 2004, the Court must assume the crime of domestic or family violence established therein was intended to be subject to the Title 46 provisions.

[7] Pursuant to A.S.C.A. § 46.1901, every person found guilty of an offense, whether set forth in Title 46 or elsewhere in the A.S.C.A., shall be sentenced under the provisions of Title 46, except that for offenses established outside of Title 46, the term of imprisonment or fine that may be imposed is that set forth in that separate statute.

[8] An offense defined in a statute outside of Title 46 is an infraction if no punishment other than a fine is imposed.