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Judge rules mayor
By Debra Barayuga
doesn’t have to take
stand for defense
Star-BulletinA state judge has ruled Mayor Jeremy Harris, former Managing Director Robert Fishman and Corporation Counsel David Arakawa don't need to take the witness stand to answer questions about the Ewa Village relocation project.
Judge Reynaldo Graulty said their testimony, as proffered by Michael Kahapea's attorney, Don Wilkerson, is cumulative, or not relevant to the defense's case.
Wilkerson's arguments were "collateral arguments not related to the defense" and had already been testified to by others, Graulty said yesterday.
The defense was expected to begin calling its first witnesses today after Wilkerson unsuccessfully argued that questioning all three city officials and former Budget Director Malcolm Tom is important to the defense's case.
Kahapea is charged with 47 counts, including multiple counts of theft and forgery, for allegedly stealing $5.8 million in Ewa Village relocation funds by steering moving contracts to companies owned by friends and relatives, billing the city for moves that did not happen or at overinflated costs and accepting kickbacks from the winning bidders.
The defense has contended that Kahapea's superiors knew about the hazardous waste problem at Ewa Villages and were aware of the rising costs to the relocations budget because of the cleanup.
Tom is expected to take the stand as early as Wednesday, as is William Balfour, the city's current parks director, formerly with Oahu Sugar Co.
Wilkerson, who expressed frustration with Graulty's ruling and city officials' refusal to talk to him, said at the very least, he wanted Fishman on the stand. Who could do better to impeach a city employee's testimony than the managing director?
"If he knows, everybody knows, right?" he said.
Wilkerson had argued that the testimony of top city administrators goes to the credibility of city employees who testified earlier for the state about their lack of knowledge or recollection regarding the hazardous waste at the Ewa Villages site and the involvement and oversight of other city officials in the Ewa Villages project. "The state's witnesses were totally unbelievable."
Kahapea has been alluded to as the "decision-maker" in relocations when he was a "lowly branch chief and not making decisions as to the scope of work needed to be done," Wilkerson said.
None of the witnesses who have testified so far has identified who was calling the shots in the Ewa Village relocation project, Wilkerson said.
Deputy Prosecutor Randal Lee objected to the defense's characterization of the city officials' testimony as relevant to their case. "The only issue that should be before the court is, 'Did any one of these people give the defendant consent to falsify documents and steal city monies?' "
Tom, budget director from 1995 to mid-1999, is the only one of the four city administrators Wilkerson had requested who will be allowed to testify.
In granting the defense's request to question Tom, Graulty said the former budget director's involvement in decisions affecting Ewa Villages is relevant to whether he or the city was aware of the acts Kahapea is charged with.
Wilkerson said Fishman's testimony about his knowledge that the relocation project included cleanup is relevant because it contradicts the testimony of former housing division chief Randall Wong and Ewa Villages project coordinator Avis Kamimura.
