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Kahapea attorney says
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
city stonewalling case
Star-BulletinA defense attorney in the Ewa Villages trial is accusing Mayor Jeremy Harris' administration of stonewalling his case by refusing to let city employees talk to him and keeping them from the witness stand.
Donald Wilkerson, attorney for fired city housing official Michael Kahapea, also is criticizing Harris for "hiding" from the trial.
"I'm having to investigate a case where nobody will talk," Wilkerson said. "This is like the streets of New York when someone gets murdered in the middle of the street, 15 people witness it, but everyone's afraid to come forward and speak."
Kahapea is standing trial on 47 counts of theft, forgery and related charges. He is accused of masterminding a scheme that stole some $5.8 million from the Ewa Villages relocation fund by diverting money to companies owned by friends and relatives for moves either not done or done at inflated costs.
A key plank to Wilkerson's defense is that Kahapea used money from the fund to clean up toxic-waste sites scattered throughout Ewa Villages. Wilkerson said he cannot lay the foundation for that defense without getting information from city employees about procedures and has so far been thwarted by city attorneys.
Wilkerson said each time he's called city employees about the possibility of testifying for the defense, "they either refuse to call me back, refer me to corporation counsel or plain hang up on me."
What's worse, Wilkerson said, Corporation Counsel David Arakawa has persuaded Circuit Judge Rey Graulty to require that he give offers of proof before allowing any of his witnesses on the stand.
On Monday, Graulty ruled that Harris, former Managing Director Bob Fishman and Arakawa would not need to testify, but that Deputy Managing Director Malcolm Tom would, stating they would not offer anything new or relevant to the case.
Yesterday, Graulty rejected former Mayor Frank Fasi on the same grounds.
City spokeswoman Carol Costa said neither Arakawa nor other city officials have been telling Deputy Prosecutor Randal Lee whom to allow into the trial. She noted that not only did two employees testify yesterday as defense witnesses, but that Parks Director Bill Balfour and Deputy Design and Construction Director Roland Libby were slated to testify today.
"It's not up to the city administration who testifies in court," Costa said. "It's the judge."
Wilkerson has accused Arakawa's office of coaching city employees. During trial yesterday, Wilkerson recalled city employee Michael Shiroma, a former colleague of Kahapea's in the Housing Department, to testify that Arakawa had talked to him before he went on the stand the first time.
