) All cases of children shall be dealt with by the court at separate hearings without a jury. The hearing shall be conducted in an informal manner, and may be adjourned, from time to time. Stenographic notes or other transcript of the hearing shall be required. The general public shall excluded and only such person admitted as the judge shall find to have a direct interest in the case or in the work of the court. The presence of the child in court may be waived by the court at any stage of the proceedings. Any child may be represented by legal counsel and the Attorney General may take part in any hearing.
(b) In all hearings arising out of § 5103(a)(4), the court shall conduct the hearings pursuant to the Guam Rules of Evidence, and other safeguards required by the constitution of the United States and the Organic Act of Guam, but the court may waive provisions of the Rules of Evidence as it deems necessary considering the age and intelligence of any child who may be called as a witness in the proceedings.
SOURCE: CCP § 262 modified and enacted by P.L. 17-012:2 as 19 Guam Code Ann.
§ 5112.

COMMENT: The modification in P.L. 17-012:2 deleted the clause in the final sentence of Subsection (a) which says Aand on request of the court@. The result is that the Attorney General may take part in any hearing as a matter of right. It is the belief of this drafter that the Attorney General should have the right to appear and take part in any hearing to represent
the government of Guam. The decision should be his and those participating on behalf of the Government. Obviously, if the Attorney General has not indicated his participation, the court may order him to do so, at least in the initial stages of the proceeding. In the past, the court has ordered the Attorney General to file a petition, but the Attorney General has sometimes declined because, in his opinion, there was insufficient evidence to proceed.

Subsection (b) has been added because many persons concerned with the juvenile code felt that, where the juvenile is being accused of what is an adult crime he should be given more safeguards than in other cases. In any event, the U.S. Supreme Court is favoring the position that juveniles accused of crimes are entitled to almost the full panoply of rights granted to criminal defendants. They have not come that far yet, but the trend does exist. Nevertheless, when questioning young children, following the strict Rules of Evidence may be impossible if one is to get at the questions at hand. Therefore, the judges are allowed to vary the rules, such as the Ahearsay@ rule and the rule against leading questions, if they determine that the evidence is reliable and there is not other way to obtain it.