Posted on: Friday, December 21, 2001

Lee Cataluna
Golf ball 'assault' just stupid

By Lee Cataluna

Attorney Victor Bakke said aloud what many were thinking:

"These are some scary, violent individuals, and the cameras aren't on for them. It's a scary comment that the media is more interested in a good person who did one thing wrong."

Bakke was the attorney for Daniel Copperud, the former UH student who whacked a golf ball from his dormitory into the Wahine Softball Stadium and square into the face of then-high school senior Amy Taniguchi. Taniguchi lost several teeth and underwent numerous corrective procedures. Copperud was found guilty of felony assault. This week, he found out whether he would have to spend time in jail.

But before his sentencing, the court went through two other cases. In the first, a young man pleaded guilty to terrorizing his girlfriend by making her sit still while he took a knife and stabbed the floor around her. He got probation. After all, he had already spent seven days in jail and he was really sorry.

In the second case, a man pled guilty to grabbing his girlfriend by the hair, shoving her into his car, beating her, driving her to an abandoned house, taking her inside and whacking her with a metal pipe to "teach her" to be a better mother to their baby daughter. In his statement to the court, the defendant wrote, "I guess love can do it to you." He got six months in prison.

And no, the cameras weren't on for them.

And then came Daniel Copperud's moment to hear his fate. The reporters snapped to attention. The prosecutor was asking for six months in jail because Copperud "ruined" Amy Taniguchi's life and wasn't properly remorseful.

The prosecutor said what Copperud did was stupid. The defense agreed what Copperud did was stupid. His father said what Copperud did was stupid. The judge said what Copperud did was stupid.

And that's one of the reasons why we were all there to see what happened. Because who among us hasn't done something stupid, reckless and potentially dangerous (like run a red light)?

The contrast between Daniel Copperud's stupid and reckless act and the malicious acts of the two men who were sentenced before him in the same courtroom was impossible to ignore.

Thankfully, Judge Karl Sakamoto didn't.

In sentencing Copperud to five years probation and no jail time, Sakamoto said: "In court, you can't hide the bad, but you also can't hide the good. You definitely made a mistake, but the conclusion of the probation office is that you had no intent to harm anyone."

Judge Sakamoto's final order to Daniel Copperud was this:

"Mr. Copperud, make this world a better place if you can." So what if he was quoting Diana Ross. It was a pointed reminder to all of us who have gotten away with something stupid.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.