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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, October 4, 2003

Trial begins for men charged in prison escape

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

Three men who escaped from Halawa prison earlier this year carried out a very carefully crafted plan and had been housed in cells that directly overlooked the main prison gate, a city deputy prosecutor said yesterday.

Because of their vantage point, inmates David Scribner, Albert Batalona and Warren Elicker knew the main gate was unguarded during certain periods, prosecutor Jean Ireton told a Circuit Court jury.

The three chipped away at the grout between the hollow tile blocks that were concealed by a metal plate in the two cells, Ireton said. And in the early morning hours of April 4, the trio slid through the openings they had created, shinnied down sheets that had been knotted together, broke through a utility door and escaped from the prison grounds, Ireton said. The three were caught separately six days later in Windward O'ahu.

Ireton used color slides during her opening statement to illustrate how the three men allegedly escaped.

Batalona, 27, is being tried on one count of second-degree escape and two counts of second-degree robbery for allegedly stealing a car and a cell phone from two men at Stadium Mall shortly after the trio broke out.

Elicker, 25, is being tried on a charge of second-degree escape. Scribner, 20, pleaded no contest to robbery and escape charges in June and was sentenced in August by Circuit Judge Marie Milks to 20 years in prison.

Batalona's lawyer, Nelson Goo, told the jury yesterday that the evidence will show that Batalona was not receiving proper medical care while in prison, which led to his decision to escape.

Winston Ling, Elicker's lawyer, told the jury the evidence will show that Elicker is not guilty of escape but that he fled the facility because rival gangs were threatening to harm his family.

The trial, before Judge Milks, is expected to last about a week.