Posted on: Saturday, December 8, 2001

Wife's guilt upheld in 1986 murder

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

A federal judge has ruled that the constitutional rights of Janice Cockett were not violated when she was convicted in state court of the 1986 murder of her husband.

Federal Judge Helen Gillmor rejected a recommendation by a federal magistrate last year to overturn the conviction. Gillmor's ruling essentially affirms Cockett's sentence, a life term in prison with parole.

Cockett may appeal the decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Her attorney, David Gierlach, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

City Deputy Prosecutor Donn Fudo, who handled the appeal, backed Gillmor's ruling.

"Judge Gillmor made explicit findings that there's no cause to believe that the trial was fundamentally unfair or that there was a miscarriage of judgment in the finding that (Cockett) was guilty of murder," Fudo said.

"The position of our office is still that the conviction is sound and the lady did receive a fair trial."

Cockett was convicted of murdering her husband, Habilitat administrator Frank Cockett Jr., who was bludgeoned to death and whose decomposing body found stuffed in the trunk of his Honda sedan at Ala Moana Shopping Center.

Janice Cockett appealed the verdict to the Hawai'i Supreme Court, which denied the petition in 1997 without a hearing.

Last year she filed an appeal in U.S. District Court, arguing that her right to confront a key witness had been violated in the 1995 trial. She claimed the statements of one witness should not have been allowed through the testimony of another. She also argued that she had received "ineffective assistance" from her trial attorney, Clayton Ikei.

U.S. Magistrate Barry Kurren later found that the testimony of a prosecution witness was hearsay and that Cockett's right to confront a witness had been violated. He recommended that her conviction be overturned.

On Tuesday, Gillmor threw out the magistrate's ruling.

It had been based on the testimony of Billy Makaila and Jaymie Mineshima, who testified that Makaila had told her Janice Cockett had hired him to kill her husband and been paid $2,350 for the job.

Mineshima also testified that Makaila had told her he helped dispose of the body while Cockett cleaned up the blood.

Makaila denied involvement in the murder.

Makaila's brother, George Makaila, also was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He died of cancer in 1995.

In rejecting Kurren's ruling, Gillmor noted that Cockett's attorney had been allowed to cross-examine Makaila and Mineshima.

She cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that states, "The Confrontation Clause guarantees only 'an opportunity for effective cross-examination, not cross-examination that is effective in whatever way, and to whatever extent, the defense might wish.' "

Gillmor also threw out Cockett's claim that she had received ineffective counsel.