Newswatch
"If you look at the history of abuse, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior," Carlisle said.
"We need to focus on the misdemeanor level," he added.
Second-degree murder charges are pending against 29-year-old Saldy Marzan, accused of shooting his estranged wife, Arlene Marzan, 25, Monday morning in Kalihi.
The tragic path leading to the murder is a familiar one.
Arlene Marzan's abuse complaints against her husband date to March 1993.
Despite the history, Saldy Marzan pleaded no contest last June to misdemeanor assault for injuring his wife and was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to attend domestic violence counseling.
The court calendar is overloaded with similar cases.
On a typical Monday, 30 to 40 trials are scheduled in two courtrooms at District Court for family violence cases, Carlisle said, and it puts a tremendous burden on deputy prosecutors and the court.
But Carlisle does not view plea bargaining as a solution.
"My feeling is jail time needs to occur because it's the only thing that will protect the victims," he said. "If there are cases that are being routinely plea-bargained because of the caseload, we need to change that."
The committee is scheduled to vote on the bill Friday, Yonamine (D, Pearl City) said after a hearing yesterday.
Key concerns include how to ensure that pensions are calculated fairly and whether changes can be applied to sitting lawmakers or if they must be limited to lawmakers elected in 1998 and later.
Freshman state Rep. Mark Moses (R, Kapolei) said that while he wanted the high-three system changed, he was concerned that reforms might break "an implied contract" that sitting legislators might have if their pension would be calculated under a new formula that could reduce their retirement income.
The high-three allows lawmakers to significantly boost their pension income by getting an appointment to a high-paying position in the administration.
Critics have charged that allows the governor or mayor to wave an enticing carrot at legislators, raising the potential that a legislator may vote the way a governor wishes in return for a lucrative administrative post later.
The committee delayed action yesterday on two bills that would require the state Department of Public Safety to publish the names and addresses of child molesters and rapists who have been released from prison in newspapers and on the Internet.
The state attorney general's office opposes the measures.
Committee Chairman Terrance Tom (D, Kaneohe) said parents' right to know about the presence of a convicted molester in their midst outweighs the privacy rights of the released offender.
Deputy Attorney General Kurt Spohn said his office agrees with the idea behind the bills but believes the legislation should be more carefully drafted.
Publishing the names of sex offenders without their photographs would defame those with the same name, Spohn said.
And publishing the address of a released offender could cause innocent property owners to have their property values lowered if a sex offender rents there, or subject future renters to potential violence, he said.
The attorney general's office, as part of a coalition that includes Hawaii's four police chiefs and county prosecutors, has sponsored alternative legislation that would make the names, photos, ZIP codes and street names of released sex offenders available to the public at police stations or by mail.
Specialized Services Division officers found the 30-year-old man hiding in the Ala Mahiku Street home. He was arrested at 7:15 p.m. Monday.
At noon yesterday, the man was booked for second-degree murder, attempted murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm in connection with the Jan. 15 shooting death of Stella Jensen in Nanakuli.
Jensen, 39, was a passenger in a car driven by a 28-year-old man who police say appeared to be the intended victim.
Her companion recognized the gunman and identified him to police. The shots were fired from a maroon car that was later found ablaze on Makaha Valley Road. The registered owner of the car was questioned and released pending investigation.
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