Carlisle says crime issues
still unresolved
Peter Carlisle said his third consecutive term as Honolulu city prosecutor will probably be his last.
Carlisle was re-elected in Saturday's primary election by beating former city Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro with 107,967 votes to 62,952 votes, or 63 percent.
He said yesterday that he was "more than 50 percent" sure that he would not be coming back for a fourth run for office.
"Change is healthy for people my age," said Carlisle, who turns 52 next month. "I want to make sure that I don't get to the point that I need the job more than the job needs me."
Kaneshiro was unavailable for comment.
Carlisle said that even though the election is over, the politics and campaigning for him and his office are not, especially since there are four constitutional amendments on the ballot in the Nov. 2 general election that have to do with crime-related issues. All of them are intended to "help restore some balance to the criminal justice system," according to Carlisle.
"The next eight weeks will be about more politics and selling voters," he said. "These amendments are for the good of the community."
House Bill 2789 is aimed at amending the state's sexual assault statute, making it possible to charge a suspect with "continuous sexual assault of a minor under the age of 14 years." The amendment would allow jurors to convict a person if they can unanimously agree that three or more acts of sexual penetration occurred with the minor over a period of time.
"Let's say there are 10 incidents of sexual assault, but the child can only remember three of them," said Carlisle. "It takes some of the burden off of kids to try and remember something that happened when they were 8 or 9 or 10 and now they're 14."
Senate Bill 2843 would make information about convicted sex offenders and those who have committed crimes against minors available to the public. Senate Bill 2846 makes information shared between the victim of a crime and physicians, psychologists or other health professionals inadmissible as evidence.
Senate Bill 2851 would allow prosecutors to present evidence before a judge in written form rather than going through a preliminary or grand jury hearing in order to determine whether there is enough evidence for a case to go to trial.
"Instead of someone having to come to court to say, 'I didn't give anyone permission to break into my house and steal my TV set,' you'd have an affidavit of an officer that would say that's what the victim's statement was," Carlisle said. "Twelve other states do this sort of information charging.
"It's great for victims, employers, doctors, tourists, the elderly ... and most importantly, it frees up police officers and gets them out of the courthouse and back into the community."
But that's for later. More immediately, Honolulu's soon-to-be three-time city prosecutor said he has more mundane post-election tasks at hand.
"I'm going to draw money out of an ATM, put gas in my son's car, then buy a 24-ounce bottle of beer," he said.
