Ruling on closed
court delayed

A Big Island lawyer complains
after a judge shuts his court
for a bail hearing

HILO » Third Circuit Court Judge Glenn Hara postponed a decision yesterday on whether to order a lower-court judge to open his court when hearing certain criminal matters.

Deputy Public Defender Melody Parker asked for the order after District Judge Matthew Pyun closed his court during bail hearings on Dec. 21. Parker represents Tadashi Endo, a defendant whose hearing was closed by Pyun.

Parker argued that the District Court should be open whenever court proceedings involve a suspect in custody.

"The purpose is to ensure that the individual is receiving fair and just treatment," Parker told Hara.

A closed-court session "just wouldn't wash," she said.

State Deputy Attorney General Lane Tsuchiyama argued that courts should generally be open but that a bail hearing is a "procedural matter," which a judge can close if courtroom safety is an issue.

Hara excused Pyun from being present during yesterday's hearing.

State Deputy Sheriff Antonio Chavez, called as a witness by Parker, said he was present Dec. 21 when Pyun began proceedings without unlocking the court doors. The doors would normally be unlocked as the court session started, he said.

In a transcript from that day, Pyun said the closure was for "security purposes."

Parker said Pyun gave no further reason. A judge has to have a "factual basis" before he can close a court, she said.

Chavez and two other deputies testified that there has never been an incident in court that they could not handle by talking to the people involved.

The most difficult situation for the deputies is walking defendants through the crowd of people outside the courtroom, Chavez said. Excluding people from the court would mean more people waiting outside that prisoners have to pass through, he said.

Tsuchiyama said a memo issued by Pyun on Dec. 23 implies his court would be open, since it refers to "court spectators."

But Pyun's memo sets out a strict schedule in which people with traffic cases, for example, cannot be in the court at the same time as people charged with crimes. Parker argued that Pyun's schedule improperly excludes "whole classes" of people from court at given times.