Inquiry creates doubts
in 2003 case

The officer who was in charge
is accused of misconduct

Defense attorneys in an October 2003 murder case that ended in a mistrial this month say they are concerned that a police detective who oversaw the investigation is the subject of a criminal and administrative investigation into alleged misconduct.

"If it has anything to do with our case, we're entitled to know the allegations against this detective," said attorney Richard Hoke, who defended Micah Kanahele, one of four defendants awaiting a retrial in the shooting death of Greg Morishima.

Police apparently received an anonymous letter with information that resulted in veteran detective Sheryl Sunia being stripped of police powers earlier this week, Hoke said. He has not seen the letter.

Sunia, who has been reassigned to administrative duties with HPD communications, could not be reached for comment.

The Office of the Prosecuting Attorney is not involved in the internal investigation and also could not comment.

The defense argued at trial that incompetence and sloppy investigative work led police to build their case solely on the confession of one of the accused robbers who later testified against the others.

Kevin Harris, the state's key witness, had told police that he threw a gun that was used in the shooting off a bridge on Waipio Point Access Road in an area monitored by video surveillance cameras.

Defense attorneys questioned why police did not confiscate the surveillance videotapes for evidence, when in fact they had but had not disclosed it to prosecutors or the defense, Hoke said.

When questioned about it later, Sunia testified that she gave the tapes to another detective, who reviewed the tapes for about 15 minutes and could not make out anything, so he put them in a desk and forgot about them.

Jeffrey Hawk, who represented co-defendant Anthony Brown, noted that the first police officer to respond to the Morishima shooting -- described as a drug robbery gone awry -- was an officer who was charged more than a year later with attempting to rob drug dealers.

"That, coupled with the detective in this case being put on leave and credibility called into question, makes this case highly suspicious," Hawk said.

Hawk said he wants to find out why police believed it necessary to put Sunia on administrative leave.

"They obviously think this is very serious, and we need to find out why it's so serious."

If she did anything improper regarding the murder investigation, "the jury needs to know that," Hawk said.