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Attorney: Client has
no Yakuza ties

By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

The attorney for a man accused of abducting and torturing his ex-wife at an airport area hotel last month says his client has no ties to the Japanese Yakuza.

"He's absolutely not a member of organized crime," said William Harrison, attorney for Hidehisa Semba.

Circuit Judge Richard Perkins ordered Semba held on $500,000 bail, cash only, on the condition that if he intends to post bail, he must first appear before the court.

The state has asked that Semba be held without bail because he is a flight risk and poses a danger to the victim, witnesses and the community.

Semba has claimed connections to Japanese organized crime and allegedly tried to kill his wife before, according to court documents in support of the state's request to have him held without bail.

Harrison said he will request that a panel of court-appointed doctors examine his client for mental fitness because he has a history of mental illness.

"We're not agreeing these facts happened," Harrison said. "If it did happen, it happened as a result of his illness."

The day the incident allegedly happened, Semba had an early morning appointment with his probation officer, who was concerned about his demeanor. He appeared to be suffering a mental breakdown or coming down from a drug-induced "high."

The probation officer knew he had a mental illness history and recommended he undergo a mental assessment a few days later.

Semba was former owner of two businesses -- Ninja Sports Bar and Ninja Karaoke Lounge -- which he sold recently, Harrison said, and which accounted for the substantial amount of cash he had on hand when police arrested him.