Posted on: Friday, December 21, 2001
Cockfight penalties revised
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
A revision to the city's cockfighting law will make it easier and faster to prosecute people involved in the illegal gambling operation, according to city deputy prosecutor Lori Nishimura.
The amended ordinance, signed by Mayor Jeremy Harris last week, sets a minimum fine of $250 and raises the maximum fine to $1,000 for the manufacture, exchange or possession of gaffs and slashers, the sharp knives attached to roosters' legs to make their fighting deadlier.
Nishimura said the law needed to be amended because the petty misdemeanor had carried the possibility of a three-month prison term, which allowed defendants to request a jury trial. The new wording allows for a maximum 30 days incarceration, which does not necessitate a jury trial.
"We wanted to clarify that this is a petty offense in the sense that it is really does not require a jury trial," Nishimura said. "We polled our office on gaff charges about whether or not people were getting jail time and only one case we could find got any jail time, but that was because it had an accompanying felony. Now defendants can't demand a jury trial, which made us ineffective and wasted our resources."
Nishimura said previously a defendant arrested multiple times could only be given a maximum of $100 fine and it could take months to get him to trial.
The revised ordinance also eliminates the wording that anyone simply present at a cockfight is breaking the law.
"That sounds like a substantive change, but it is not because previous case law from the (Hawai'i) Supreme Court said it is unconstitutional to charge someone for just being at cockfight," she said. "So we've never used that since the 1968 ruling."
Nishimura said the city law is used for people caught with gaffs. If people are caught with roosters in a fight they are charged with cruelty to animals under state law, a separate offense.
The revision will not solve the cockfighting problems on O'ahu, she said, but it will hit criminals where it hurts, in the pocket book.
"It will have a deterrent effect in the sense that people will be fined at a much higher rate," Nishimura said. "It will also make us much more efficient about getting cases done quicker."
A street brawl and the beating death of a man following a cockfight on Bannister Street Nov. 16 has turned a spotlight on illegal cockfighting operations.
Police have charged Don Cabinian, 28, Jason Yoshimura, 34, and cousins Branden Kakugawa, 30, and Evan Kakugawa, 33, with second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder. Trial is set for Feb. 4.
Leon R. Fernandez, 39, of Kane'ohe, died and Eufracio Esmeralda, 41, was seriously injured.
The Bannister Street house has long been the best-known cockfighting spot in Honolulu, according to police, but authorities said they could not make any arrests related to cockfighting unless they see fights start or see the slashing knives on the birds' legs.
Now the mere possession of the knives is a crime.
"We have been following up and going down there on weekends to make sure there are no fights or anything going on," said Lt. Kevin Thomas of the police department's narcotics/vice division. "We have been talking to the owners who say they had nothing to do with (the fight). We are making sure they don't operate as much as we can."
Bannister Street residents say the cockfighting has not been evident since the November fight.
Thomas said major cockfighting operations usually take place in more rural areas such as Waipahu, Wahiawa or Wai'anae, but smaller, backyard fights can go on just about anywhere.
