Charges in organized crime cases dismissed

Judges say remarks by one juror could have prejudiced grand jury

By LILA FUJIMOTO 

Staff Writer

WAILUKU — Finding that a Maui County grand jury could have been possibly prejudiced by one juror’s remarks, judges dismissed charges against most defendants in organized crime cases involving illegal cockfighting and gambling.

Deputy Prosecutor J.W. Hupp said the prosecution planned to present evidence to a different grand jury panel to try to reindict the defendants. They were among 35 Maui residents charged in connection with a nearly yearlong investigation of illegal cockfighting and gambling that police said dismantled two criminal organizations.

“The judge was not ruling on the quality of the evidence itself,” Hupp said after the rulings Tuesday by 2nd Circuit Judges Shackley Raffetto and Joseph Cardoza.

But one defendant, former mayoral candidate William “Bill” Riddick, 47, of Haiku, viewed the dismissal of felony charges including racketeering and promotion of gambling as vindication for those arrested and charged.

“Some guys lost their jobs,” he said. “I just wanted to clear my name. I’m not a crook or anything.”

He said he had attended one Sunday cockfighting event at the old Maui High School campus at Hamakuapoko to solicit support for his mayoral campaign but did not place bets or handle chickens.

Riddick acknowledged he previously had been “a regular” at cockfighting matches but wasn’t involved in running the events. “Nobody runs it,” he said. “It’s whoever shows up with a bird.”

Defense attorney Keith Tanaka, representing Riddick and more than a dozen of the defendants, had argued to have the charges against them dismissed based on the grand juror’s comments during the proceeding in December.

While jurors were being asked whether they knew any of the defendants, the juror said he knew a few of them and was related to one, but that it wouldn’t affect his ability to hear the case, according to transcripts of the grand jury proceedings.

“I can be impartial,” the juror said.

“You think you can sit in this case?” a deputy prosecutor asked the juror.

“He’s guilty,” the juror responded, referring to the defendant that he’s related to.

The remark was followed by laughter, leading Hupp to argue that “what he said was taken by the grand jurors as a moment of levity.”

Hupp said the only defendant that could claim to have been prejudiced by the remark was the juror’s relative, Glenn Nakamura, who did not join in the request to have misdemeanor gambling charges against him dismissed.

But defense attorney Christopher Dunn, who joined in the request for a dismissal on behalf of his clients, said all the defendants had the right to have their cases heard by an unbiased grand jury.

“It’s clear that there’s prejudice here,” Tanaka said.

While a judge does not sit in on grand jury proceedings, Judge Raffetto said the judge should have been notified so he could have instructed the jury about the juror’s remarks.

“This type of situation rarely occurs,” Raffetto said.

He said he was dismissing the indictments in cases in his courtroom because what the grand jury does “must be beyond reproach.”

“The court cannot be certain there was no taint of the process by the unfortunate remarks and familiar relationship by one juror,” Raffetto said.

The cases in Raffetto’s courtroom stemmed from police surveillance of 423 cockfighting matches held Sundays at the old Maui High School campus at Hamakuapoko.

Grand jurors also handed down multiple indictments in another case stemming from surveillance of cockfighting matches held Wednesdays at Old Maui Block in Waikapu, and Saturdays at the Kahului end of the drag strip at Maui Raceway Park in Puunene.

The same witnesses and some of the same participants were involved in the Waikapu and Puunene indictments, which resulted from a similar investigation occurring at the same time as the Hamakuapoko case, Hupp said.

The Waikapu and Puunene cases were in the courtroom of Judge Cardoza, who cited the links between the cases in the two courtrooms in ruling to grant requests to dismiss the cases in his courtroom.

Both Cardoza and Raffetto ruled the dismissals should be without prejudice so the prosecution can seek to bring the charges again.

Tanaka said he would try to negotiate a settlement of the cases.

Riddick, who hopes to run for political office again, said police should focus their efforts on other illegal activity instead of cockfighting.

“I really enjoy the sport, and I’m not ashamed of it,” he said. “We’re not there to harm no one.

“What they should be doing is getting the drug dealers. No drugs are sold down there.”

Source: http://www.maui.net/~mauinews/lnews3b.htm