Another Side of the Story
Another Side of the Story
Misreporting incident
holds lessons for both
media and courts[ A MATTER OF RECORD ]
Last Sunday's "Raising Cane" column, written by Rob Perez, inaccurately concluded that systemic secrecy abounds at the Hawaii State Judiciary and that Chief Justice Ronald Moon is one of a privileged few to benefit from this secret system. Contrary to the column, Moon's divorce case was never sealed; Moon's file is available to the public; and Moon's divorce decree was not "purged" from the Land Court petition filed at the Bureau of Conveyances.
The Judiciary acknowledges that it responded to questions prior to publication. After publication, the Judiciary learned that, in at least one instance, a clerk had erroneously informed the columnist that the chief justice's case was confidential. Had the Judiciary been given sufficient time to search its records and respond, the columnist would have been informed that:
>> Moon's 1979 divorce case was never sealed. The First Circuit Court legal documents section has a general index available to the public that lists all public cases from 1924 to 1981. Anyone interested in reviewing the chief justice's 1979 divorce case can simply check the general index. The chief justice's divorce case number and the filing date can easily be found under his or his ex-wife's name.
>> Moon's divorce file is available to the public. Persons conducting online computer searches are first presented with a notice advising that the electronic record indexes available on the public access database do not contain all information from official court records. By continuing their search, users acknowledge they have read the notice and understand that the public database is limited.
The public database does not contain cases closed prior to 1980, when the family court computer system was installed. Closed cases were not entered into the computer system, unless there was some subsequent activity. In 1984, two documents were filed in Moon's closed divorce case and the title and date of each document was recorded in the computer system. Although cases closed before 1980 cannot be found on the computer through a name search, a person may find information on a closed case by using the case number if subsequent activity has taken place. Thus, by using the general index to determine Moon's divorce case number, the 1984 documents filed in his case can be easily located.
>> Moon's divorce decree was not "purged" from the Bureau of Conveyances' records. There is nothing even remotely unusual about Moon's Land Court petition. According to Kathleen Hanawahine, Land Court deputy registrar, Land Court removes multiple-page divorce papers attached to Land Court petitions. These types of documents provide proof of matters stated in the petition. However, once the documents are reviewed and the petition accepted, the documents are usually removed because they take up too much space, drive up the cost of microfilming and are retrievable through other court files. According to Carl Watanabe, Bureau of Conveyances registrar, there is nothing unusual about Moon's petition. He noted that it is rare for a petition archived at the Bureau of Conveyances to include multiple-page divorce decrees.
This incident provides the Judiciary a valuable lesson about the need to provide accurate information and better employee training. It does not, however, provide the basis for concluding that the courts encourage systematic secrecy or act to benefit an exclusive group of wealthy or high-profile residents, as the column broadly concludes.
Such sweeping conclusions unfairly question the chief justice's integrity and credibility and undermine public trust and confidence in the Hawaii State Judiciary. Compliance with the rule of law depends on respect for the courts.
The Judiciary hopes that the Star-Bulletin will likewise find that this incident provides a lesson that, when researching a story concerning the Judiciary, the press be thorough and fair, keep an open mind and provide realistic time frames for responses. People rely upon the press for information about government, including the courts. When the information is inaccurate, the press, the public and government are all harmed.
Marsha E. Kitagawa is the public affairs officer for the Hawaii State Judiciary.
Raising Cane followup column