Former Maui official loses
bid to dismiss DUI charge

WAILUKU >> Wailuku District Judge Reinette Cooper has denied a motion to dismiss a drunken-driving charge against former Maui County Managing Director John Kulp.

Cooper ruled yesterday that police officers were within their legal authority to conduct a vehicle checkpoint where Kulp was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol.

Defense attorney David Sereno had argued that the "unconstitutional" checkpoint plan was defective and arbitrary. Sereno said contrary to state law, police excluded the screening of mo-peds from the drunken-driving roadblock.

Kulp, 51, was driving on Wahine Pio Drive near the entrance to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center when he was stopped at a DUI checkpoint at 11:41 p.m. Dec. 16. His blood alcohol level was 0.114, well over the legal limit of 0.08, according to court records.

Kulp has a drunken-driving conviction in Nevada on Jan. 24, 2002. If convicted of a second drunken-driving charge under Hawaii law, he could face a minimum penalty of at least five days in jail.

He resigned as county managing director effective July 15, following a decision to challenge his arrest for drunken driving.

At the hearing yesterday, state Deputy Attorney General Joanne Ha'o said the exclusion of mo-peds had no effect on the legality of the DUI checkpoint in Kulp's case because Kulp was not riding a mo-ped, and there were no mo-peds that passed the checkpoint that night.

Cooper said she felt the police were well within their right to exclude mo-peds for safety reasons.

Police officers had testified that they excluded mo-peds because they did not want cars accidentally crashing into mo-peds while turning right into a DUI checkpoint.

Sereno said Kulp planned to appeal Cooper's ruling, which would postpone a trial pending a decision of a higher court.