Monthly Archives: May 2013

On Wednesday, May 29, 2013 from 8:30 A.M. to 4:30 P.M., I second chaired my first voir dire and trial for abuse of a family or household member with Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Rob Dawson in Family Court of the First Circuit located in Honolulu District Court building, courtroom 8C with Judge Catherine H. Remigio. Voir Dire is where the attorneys select the jury and for the trial, a conviction or acquittal is determined by the jury (jury trial).

On Tuesday, May 28, 2013 from 8:30 A.M. to 1:00 P.M., I called my first trial week calendar for Domestic Violence Misdemeanor with Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Rob Dawson in Family Court of the First Circuit located in Honolulu District Court building, courtroom 8C with Judge Dean Ochiai. This is where cases are pled guilty, continued, dismissed, or set for trial.

On Thursday, May 24, 2013 at 1:30 P.M., I attended my first Domestic Violence Misdemeanor status hearing with Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Chad Kumagai in Family Court of the First Circuit located in Honolulu District Court building, courtroom 8C with Judge Dean Ochiai.

On Friday, May 24, 2013 from 6:00 P.M., I attended the Honolulu Japanese Junior Chamber of Commerce’s Nijikai at Bishop Museum, Great Lawn. It raised funds for the Hawaii Children’s Cancer Foundation.

On Monday, May 20, 2013, I started typing my Writing Project #2 with 400+ words.

Congratulations to Sharmaine and Jenalyn on their graduation from Waipahu High School! I met them when they were in the seventh grade at Waipahu Intermediate School. I first met Jenalyn when I was campaigning door-to-door while I was in the Hawaii State House of Representatives. They interviewed me a number of times on camera for their Olelo video production program. Later, I worked with them on a program we did on Olelo for a couple of years where we interviewed people involved in the community at various events.

On Friday, May 17, 2013, I finished reading “The Notebook” by Nicholas Sparks. This book really got interesting for me in the last chapter.

On May 13, 2013, I finished reading “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald for the second time. Last time I read it I was in college. A very good novel.

My sister Mia bought me “For One More Day” by Mitch Albom for my Christmas/Birthday present some years back. On May 7, 2013, I read about 25 pages of the novel in the afternoon and that evening until the early morning, I completed the book as I laid in bed.

It is such a touching story that shows a mother’s unconditional love for her children. The protagonist had regrets on how he treated his mom and had one more day to tell her how much he loved her and missed her when he sees her spirit. This story really makes you appreciate your mom even more. I feel so lucky to have a loving mom like the mom in the book. I also feel grateful to have a dad who has supported my family unlike the protagaonist’s father who betrayed and abandoned his family. It made me think of all the single moms who were betrayed or abandoned by their significant others. I must have teared up a dozen times while reading this.

“When someone is in your heart, they’re never truly gone. They can come back to you, even at unlikely times.” ― Mitch Albom, “For One More Day”

On the early morning of Tuesday, May 7, 2013, I finished reading “5 People You Meet in Heaven” by Mitch Albom, which I started reading last Friday evening. It’s an easy to read book and very moving story that makes you appreciate life and understand that we all touch so many people’s lives.

On Friday, May 3, 2013, I attended the 2013 CTAHR (Univeristy of Hawaii at Manoa’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources) Awards Banquet at Ala Moana hotel. It was the 25th annual banquest by the college. I was invited by the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation. I brought Honolulu Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Allen Yadao as my guest.

I attended the following Spring political events:

5/2/2013 – Hawaii House Party at M in Restaurant Row.

5/1/2013 – Fundraiser for Hawaii Senator Will Espero at Mandalay Restaurant.

4/24/2013 – Fundraiser of Hawaii Senator Clayton Hee at Plaza Club.

4/2/2013 – Fundraiser for Hawaii Representative Ken Ito and Hawaii Representative Sharon Har at Mandalay Restaurant.

3/20/2013 – Fundraiser for Hawaii Representative Kyle Yamashita and Hawaii Representative Clift Tsuji at Mandalay Restaurant.

On April 23, 2013, the Governor signed SB 870 SD1 HD1 related to Discipline of a Minor Defense as Act 31. SB870 SD1 HD1 was part of the Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney’s legislative package since 2012. This law created a list of presumptions that are unjustifiable use of force when parents or guardians discipline their minors such as: “throwing, kicking, burning, biting, cutting, striking with a closed fist, shaking a minor under three years of age, interfering with breathing, or threatening with a deadly weapon.” The legislature made it rebuttable. In the previous law, in order to be able to use the defense, attorneys had to show that the defendant did not use force that was “designed to or known to create a risk of causing substantial bodily injury, disfigurement, extreme pain or mental distress, or neurological damage.” We added lower state of mind language: “The force used does not intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently create a risk of causing substantial bodily injury, disfigurement, extreme pain or mental distress, or neurological damage.” Thus, the defense can’t be applied if the defendant was reckless or negligent as well in causing the victim subtantially bodily injury.

On Friday, May 3, 2013, I finished my fifth draft of my writing project with 77,698 words. It is the first of four books I am working on since I first came up with the story on October 11, 2006.