Posted by Frenchie
Proceedings were scheduled to start at 8.00am on Tuesday 22nd of February, while apparently all parties were present, the trial started after 9.00am with what appear to be the interrogation of Deacon Kim, the former financial head of the Archdiocese under AA, and a CPA here on Guam.
While the lead attorney for the plaintiff Edwin Caldie partner for the firm Stinson LLP in Minneapolis MN first came forward. It was his associate Andrew Glasnovitch a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School (2016) who started questioning Mr Kim. It was hard to figure out what was going on, since the sound was off on the zoom court transmission.
After about 20 minutes of actual proceeding, a recess was called by the Judge while the technical snafus were worked on.
Hopefully we can proceed at 9.45am as planned.
On a side note, the choice of Mr Glasnovitch as a lawyer against the Archdiocese is interesting in view of his personal activist background and his openly gay lifestyle. Stinson LLP made him their outreach and recruit searcher for the LGBTQ community.
Think about where your money is going to go after all this is over.
Edwin Caldie restarted the questioning
Establishing who Mr Kim is, what his responsibilities were in the AA administration, before and after his hiatus in Sacramento CA.
Mr Kim was also asked if he knew of a policy to safeguard documents, he said he did not recalled.
Next set of question was about the Thomas Aquinas school process for closure, and what happened to the debt. Answer I do not remember . The plaintiffs added more documents as exhibits that showed a memorandum of actions to be taken after the closing, what to do with Rick Cruz. Answer I do not remember but it is written in the memo.
The plaintiffs moved on to questions on being a Catholic, again with the same focus, on belonging to the same Church, being one with the Archdiocese. What do you expect the Archdiocese will do with the moneys collected.
We learned that Deacon Kim was Baptized in Korea while he was a senior in High School. That he became a CPA after studying at UOG, That he arrived on Guam in the 1970s and has lived here over 43 years.
Mr Caldie went on with leading questions about donations, land, other investments, Would the parishioners defy the Archbishop if he attempted to close his parish? Answer yes. Mr Kim testified that donation were for GOD's work in his church (meaning the universal and apostolic church) Then Mr Caldie continued about giving money to the Archbishop. ...answer we don't give money to the archbishop, but assessment are governed by Church law. Of course Mr Caldie refused to hear this argument.
On cross examination Mrs Diaz was a lot better prepared that the 2 previous days. She actually was able to establish the amount of money raised by the parishioners of St Andrew Kim, How and by whom the land property was aquired and who donated. She also was able to establish that other parishes in Korea participated in the fundraising of the construction of the Church.
Mrs Diaz seemed to be even more combative in regards to the multiple objections from the plaintiffs who were for the most part overruled. The Judge also appeared to be slightly irritated at the condescending tone of some of Mr Caldies remarks.
(was this an actual shift? Or just a temporary set- back for the plaintiffs? time will tell
Redirect was short and uneventful.
A recess was called for Lunch
Return on Zoom at 12.15pm
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