Wife denies knowledge
of Manoa killing
A Kailua woman, admitting in court she helped her husband dispose of marijuana, said she didn't know anything about him allegedly murdering a Kaneohe man.
Jody Awana, 35, acknowledged in court yesterday that she helped her husband, Gregory Awana, remove marijuana from a Manoa home where police allege Yorck Woita Jr., 28, was murdered.
Circuit Judge Marie Milks sentenced Jody Awana to a five-year term similar to probation, granting her request to defer a no-contest plea to first-degree hindering prosecution.
Milks granted the deferral in part because there was no evidence that Awana had anything to do with growing the marijuana. Milks also said she wasn't going to saddle Awana, who has no previous criminal history, with a criminal record when she has not been charged in connection with Woita's murder.
"There's nothing to tie you to the murder charge," Milks said.
Deputy Prosecutor Glenn Kim opposed the deferral, but said that if Awana wants it, she should tell the court what she knows.
"I didn't know about the murder," Awana told the judge yesterday.
Awana's attorney, Michael Green, said the Oahu Avenue home did not belong to the couple, but was where her husband, formerly a deputy sheriff who served legal documents to parties in civil cases, processed his documents. They sometimes stayed there overnight, Green said.
In August, Awana went upstairs to use the bathroom and discovered marijuana inside a room that was normally locked, Green said. "She basically snapped."
"I ordered my husband to get it out because we have a daughter and (because of) his position as (deputy) sheriff," Awana told the court. "I was just very upset and I apologize about it all."
Green said Awana has resigned from Punahou School, where she worked in the laundry room, and has applied for welfare. "Obviously, her life is in shambles."
Woita Jr. was last seen Aug. 29 by friends who followed him and Gregory Awana to the Manoa home "to watch his back," police said. The friends had seen Woita and Awana arguing earlier in Kailua.
The SUV Woita drove was found on fire in Waimanalo later that night.
Police conducted surveillance on the home and on Aug. 30 saw Jody Awana help her husband load garbage bags and boxes into the back of a pickup truck. Gregory Awana was later seen dumping the bags at the Kapaa Transfer Station. Police found marijuana plants, bloody rags and cement blocks inside the bags and boxes.
Police later said Gregory Awana, 38, an investigator with the city Medical Examiner's Office, confessed to shooting Woita at the home, transporting the body in Woita's SUV and disposing of the body, which has never been found.
Gregory Awana is set to go to trial next week on charges of second-degree murder, car theft, second-degree criminal property damage, first-degree hindering prosecution, and drug and firearms offenses.