Man guilty of threat
to wife using a gun

A Circuit Court jury has found a former Honolulu police recruit guilty of threatening his wife with a handgun, an offense punishable by a mandatory five-year prison term because he used a semiautomatic.

Ernie Gomez: His wife says he punched and kicked her and threatened her with a knife

The jury also convicted Ernie Gomez, 27, of one count of abusing his wife, Sherly, 24.

The incidents, which took place at their Ewa Beach home on May 30, allegedly stemmed from Gomez's belief that his wife was cheating on him, according to prosecutors and the defense.

He allegedly showed up with a video camera at a basketball game she had been invited to along with other co-workers at the Pearl Harbor Bloch Arena and saw her kissing a co-worker in the parking lot.

Sherly Gomez denied being romantically involved with her co-worker, maintaining she had given him a "tap" on the cheek to thank him for listening to her problems.

She later told police her husband threatened to put bullets in her and her co-worker's heads and, later while at home, pointed a gun at her and threatened to kill her if she did not give him the man's name and phone number.

She said her husband also punched and kicked her and threatened her with a knife, saying he had skinned people alive in Kosovo. The couple had served in the Army before joining the Hawaii National Guard.

The jury could not reach verdicts on five other counts. Circuit Judge Michael Town declared a mistrial on those counts and set a new trial for the week of April 18.

Defense attorney Victor Bakke said his client is happy that the jury reached verdicts on only two of the seven counts and that they plan to appeal.

The defense argued that Gomez showed up at the Bloch Arena with a video camera, not with a gun, because he was hoping to obtain evidence of his wife's infidelity, and did not make any threats.

Bakke criticized the police investigation and said the case would not have been brought forward had it not been for the prosecutor's no-drop policy on domestic violence cases. Even the jurors had questioned why charges were filed if Sherly Gomez and her co-worker had refused to press charges, he said.

Gomez will be sentenced April 19. Town said Gomez has conducted himself well in court since posting bail last June, and allowed him to remain free pending sentencing.