CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa appeared in District Court yesterday with attorney David Hayakawa.
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Actor gets probation after guilty plea
Film and television actor Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa pleaded guilty yesterday to a petty misdemeanor charge of harassing his girlfriend after being scolded by a District Family Court judge for missing five court appearances.
Under a plea agreement, worked out by his attorney David Hayakawa, Tagawa's charge was knocked down from a misdemeanor charge of abuse of a household member.
He was fined $1,000 and placed on probation for a year.
He also was ordered to attend domestic violence intervention classes and agreed to write a letter of apology to the victim.
Hayakawa said the $1,000 would be contributed to Ala Kuola, a group that provides legal services to domestic violence victims. Hayakawa said that if Tagawa, 57, stays out of trouble for a year, the charge would be wiped from his record.
Tagawa made no comment about the incident. On Nov. 14, police responded to a 911 call and found a woman in her 50s with injuries. She did not require an ambulance or hospitalization.
District Family Court Judge Darryl Choy was upset that an arrest warrant was not issued for Tagawa after he missed five earlier court appearances.
"There is so much slack here that you could wrap a rope around the world," Choy said.
After the hearing, Hayakawa said Tagawa would not comment on the incident but added that the martial arts expert "from the very beginning took full responsibility for this case. He made no excuses and it took a little while because of his schedule to wrap this up."
Some of Tagawa's best-known films include "Memoirs of a Geisha," "Pearl Harbor" and "The Last Emperor."