Wong perjury charge still on table
By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Hawai'i attorney general's office has not decided yet whether to dismiss a last perjury indictment against former Bishop Estate trustee Richard "Dickie" Wong, Deputy Attorney General Lawrence Goya said yesterday.
The Hawai'i Supreme Court on Friday ruled unanimously that Circuit Judge Michael Town acted properly in a series of rulings starting in 1999 when he threw out theft indictments against Wong and former Bishop Estate trustee Henry Peters involving a Hawai'i Kai land deal.
In addition, the court affirmed the dismissal of theft cases against developer Jeffrey Stone, also ending any efforts to prosecute him.
State prosecutors are continuing to appeal Town's dismissal of a perjury indictment brought against Wong for allegedly lying to an O'ahu grand jury while testifying about the land deal in question.
An earlier perjury indictment against Wong in the case was previously dismissed.
Goya said the last remaining indictment against Wong will be "discussed soon" by the attorney general's office and a decision will be made about whether to pursue it.
Goya declined to say whether his office is keeping the perjury indictment alive so that it can be used as a bargaining chip to get Wong to withdraw a malicious prosecution lawsuit he filed against the state attorney general's office in federal court.
Wong's attorney, Eric Seitz, said he proposed a similar deal to state prosecutors last summer shortly after the Supreme Court heard arguments on why the theft charges against Wong, Peters and Stone should be dismissed.
But Seitz said the prosecution flatly rejected the proposal.
He said it would be a display of "extreme bad faith" and "bush league" for the attorney general's office to continue to try to revive the perjury indictment since the case it grew out of has been dismissed by the Supreme Court.
Seitz said he sent a letter yesterday to Attorney General Earl Anzai asking him to discontinue any attempts to keep the perjury indictment against Wong alive.
Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.
