Circuit Judge Gail Nakatani has confirmed $1 million bail for a Kailua man charged with firearms and drug offenses. Bail confirmed for man
suspected in 2 murdersHe pleads not guilty to charges
of drug and firearms offensesStar-Bulletin staff
Jason K. Perry, 23, pleaded not guilty yesterday in Circuit Court to those charges.
Perry is a suspect but has not been charged in the murders of Tracey Tominaga and Edward Fuller.
Attorney David Bettencourt, hired by Perry's family, argued that there was no record kept of what police privately told a judge before a preliminary hearing when bail was previously set at $1 million.
Nakatani said the bail amount was confirmed at the preliminary hearing, and the bail issue can be brought before Judge Karen Ahn, to whom the case has been assigned. Trial is set for June 24.
"They suspect him of ... a couple of murders," Bettencourt said after the arraignment. But he suggested government witnesses are "talking themselves to freedom" by implicating his client.
Perry was first arrested as a suspect in the Jan. 26 shooting of Fuller, 40, on Jack Lane off Pali Highway in Nuuanu.
Police arrested Perry and seven other men on April 6 in connection with Tominaga's death. The Kapahulu woman died of asphyxia due to suffocation and strangulation and was missing since Jan. 20. Her body was found after a tip led police to a shallow grave. The other men were released.