Thompson must
stay in prison

By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

A Circuit Judge today denied former corrections officer James Thompson's request for supervised release until his Dec. 27 retrial on sexual assault charges.

Thompson, accused of preying on five Mililani girls, abducting three of them and forcing them to perform sex acts on separate occasions in 1997, has been incarcerated since his September 1998 arrest.

His previous two trials ended with hung juries.

Deputy prosecutor Paul Wong argued that it would be "extremely inappropriate" for Thompson to be released to live with his mother in Mililani since that is where the alleged offenses took place and witnesses and victims continue to live there.

He also said that the court, in setting high bail, had found that the crimes he is accused of are serious offenses and that he poses a danger to the community.

Deputy public defender Todd Eddins had said Thompson would have been willing to be put under 24-hour house arrest and electronic monitoring had the court granted the request.

Judge Michael Town, however, did reduce Thompson's bail from $725,000 to $700,000 since prosecutors had dropped one of the charges against him at his second trial in October.

The defense later today was expected to ask that Thompson's third trial be continued to February because of scheduling conflicts.