Ex-UH athlete accused of assault
Kim Willoughby, former University of Hawaii All-American volleyball player and a member of the silver-medal-winning U.S. women's volleyball team at the Beijing Olympics, is scheduled to appear in Circuit Court on Monday to be arraigned on a charge of first-degree assault.
An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment on Sept. 18 charging her with the crime. However, the court kept the document under seal.
Because the indictment was not publicly available, it is not known whom Willoughby, 27, allegedly assaulted and when. She has already posted $50,000 bail.
First-degree assault is a Class B felony under state law, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. A person commits first-degree assault by intentionally or knowingly causing serious bodily injury to another person.
This is not Willoughby's first brush with the law in Hawaii.
Honolulu police charged her with abuse of a family or household member and third-degree assault on June 8, 2001. Both charges are misdemeanors.
The state amended the first charge to another third-degree assault, and Willoughby pleaded guilty to both charges July 23, 2001.
Judge Steven Alm granted Willoughby's request to defer her guilty pleas for a year, after which time the charges were cleared from her criminal record because she stayed out of trouble and satisfied other court-ordered conditions.
The conditions included performing 25 hours of community service and undergoing mental health assessment and treatment. Alm also required Willoughby to write a letter of apology to her victim.
Five days after police charged Willoughby in the case, the victim filed for a temporary restraining order against her. Family Court Judge R. Mark Browning issued a three-year protective order June 25, 2001.
The latest case is also not the first time Willoughby faced a first-degree assault charge.
City prosecutors charged Willoughby through felony information documents on June 28, 2007, with first-degree assault and second-degree assault. On that same date, state Circuit Judge Derrick Chan issued a $20,000 bench warrant for her arrest. The charges stem from two alleged incidents in 2006 and 2007.
The felony information documents would have been released to the public on the first date Willoughby appeared in court to answer to the charges, but she never did. At the state's request, Chan dismissed the charges four days later and recalled the bench warrant. However, he also signed an order spelling out terms and conditions for her release.
It is unclear whether the latest charge is related to the 2006 and 2007 incidents.
