Gag order is issued in abuse case
A malnourished girl's parents face charges of attempted murder
Attorneys associated with the criminal case involving a 12-year-old malnourished girl found unconscious at her family's Makiki apartment have been ordered not to talk about the case.
Circuit Judge Rhonda Nishimura issued the gag order at the request of defense attorneys for the girl's parents, Denise and Melvin Wright Jr., both 33, who are charged in a July indictment with attempted second-degree murder and are awaiting trial March 10.
The indictment alleged that beginning in June 2006 and up until January, the couple failed to support and supply the medical care needed for their daughter.
The prosecution declined comment, citing the judge's order. Defense attorney Lane Takahashi likewise declined comment. Deputy public defender Debra Loy could not be reached.
While the parties are prohibited from talking, the criminal case file remains open because Nishimura rejected a defense request to seal the records. Her ruling does not affect an earlier order by Family Court Judge Bode Uale sealing a previous 2000 Family Court case in which the parents pleaded no contest to endangering the welfare of a minor. The girl was 5 at the time.
The state attorney general is not a party to the criminal case, but represents the Department of Human Services in Family Court matters and is looking at Nishimura's ruling. "DHS records are not disclosable at this time because of Judge Uale's order," said Deputy Attorney General Mary A. Magnier.
In an Aug. 2 order, Uale found that it would not be in the girl's best interests as she tries to live a normal life to release prior Child Welfare service records in the 2000 case. He found that releasing the records would "generate additional publicity and potentially be harmful to her."
In the more recent case, authorities found the girl at her Kinau Street apartment on Jan. 7 weighing about 35 to 40 pounds, half of what a girl her age would normally weigh.
Prosecutors had said earlier that the girl had not seen a doctor since she was 10 months old, was not attending school and never saw a dentist.
Defense attorneys sought the gag order citing earlier comments made by prosecutors early in the case. They argued that divulging any more details about the case would prejudice their clients' rights to a fair trial.