Posted on: Wednesday, September 25, 2002
Internal affairs reports denied in police 'food scam' case
By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
Lawyers for two former high-ranking Honolulu police officers accused of diverting food meant for prisoners for their own use won't be able to obtain copies of a police department internal affairs investigation into the matter, a Circuit Court judge ruled yesterday.
Likewise, the prosecution also won't be able to obtain internal affairs reports, Circuit Court Judge Daniel Kochi ruled.
Lawyers Darwin Ching and Howard Luke, who represent former police Maj. Jeffrey Owens and former Assistant Chief Rafael Fajardo, respectively, in the so-called "food scam" case, had sought statements made to internal affairs investigators by Myron Lee and Ernest Villanueva, former cellblock food service workers.
Owens and Fajardo were charged with second-degree theft for allegedly dining on food purchased for prisoners from 1995 to 2000, and treating themselves and a select group of fellow officers to deluxe meals such as leg of lamb and turkey by using misappropriated food. They are scheduled to go on trial Jan. 21.
Ching told Kochi yesterday that Villanueva, who has a plea agreement with the prosecution, and Lee, who was not indicted in the case but still could be, may be inclined to shape their testimony at trial to fit the needs of the prosecution. Ching said having access to what the two former food service workers told police internal affairs investigators will help determine if what the two say at the trial is consistent with earlier statements the two men made to internal affairs investigators.
City Deputy Prosecutor Randal Lee told Kochi that if Ching and Luke are able to get copies of the statements Villanueva and Myron Lee made to internal affairs, then he should be able to get copies of statements Owens and Fajardo made to internal affairs.
Kochi ruled that neither side is legally entitled to the reports and quashed subpoenas issued by both sides in hopes of getting the reports.
