Daily Archives: March 22, 2013

In the afternoon of Monday, March 18, 2013, I won my third Assault 3 trial in Honolulu District Court in Courtroom 7B. This was a case where the defendant and two other men punched and kicked a young male victim over twenty times each until he was bloodied and bruised up. They assaulted the victim three times over the course of fifteen to twenty minutes, which occurred at Restaurant Row in Honolulu.

In the meantime, at 2:00 P.M., Honolulu Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tricia Nakamatsu testified in support of the Law Enforcement Coalition’s HB1059 HD2 that requires the court to advise a criminal defendant of the effects of a guilty or no contest plea on alien status at the defendant’s arraignment and plea hearing, and again prior to the entry of a guilty or no contest plea or the commencement of trial.

On Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 10:00 A.M. I attended Honolulu Jodo Shu’s services. At 11:45 A.M., I chaired Honolulu Jodo Shu’s board of directors meeting. At 3:30 P.M., spent time with my mom, dad, and sister Lara at my parents’ house in Pearl City. We Skyped with my sister Mia and Elyse.

On Friday, March 15, 2013, I made a speech to the Hawaii Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers in the auditorium at the Hawaii State Capitol, which had mostly social worker students from the various colleges in Hawaii. I spoke about the legislative process and my experience in trying to get ideas passed into law.

At 10:00 A.M. before the Hawaii House Public Safety Committee, I testified in opposition of SB1141, SD2 that establishes a one-year limit on the length of time an individual may remain on conditional release if charged with a misdemeanor, petty misdemeanor, or violation; clarifies under what circumstances the one-year conditional release status may be tolled pending an individual’s hospitalization; and requires public agencies in possession of information related to a defendant’s fitness to proceed to provide the information to the court. Persons on conditional releases were found unfit to proceed in their criminal trial because of their mental illness and were placed under the care of the state hospital. It is important to note that persons on conditional release are a danger to self or others and need treatment to keep this risk to a minimum. If all such individuals are released into the public after one year, the public is placed at risk. Rather, there should be a case-by-case analysis to ensure dangerous persons are still treated.

At 2:00 P.M. before the Hawaii House Judiciary Committee I had testimony commenting our concerns on SB982 SD1 that proposes a constitutional amendment to determine whether an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Hawaii proposed by the legislature has been ratified by requiring that only yes and no votes be counted and that the total number of yes and no votes tallied upon the question in comparison with the total number of votes cast, including blank and spoiled ballots cast at the general election, constitutes a percentage that is at least equal to the percentage of the total number of yes and no votes on legislatively proposed amendments using the same comparison with the total number of votes cast, including blank and spoiled ballots cast at the general elections of the immediately preceding ten years. We believe that blank votes should continue to be counted as “no votes” because often times people don’t vote in support of an issue they don’t undertsand. Moreover, amendments of the constitution should not be made easier to pass.

In the evening, I enjoyed spending time with fellow Honolulu Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys at Che Pasta restaurant and the downtown area.