Activist won't contest theft charge

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Civil rights activist Marsha Joyner pleaded no-contest Monday to a felony charge that she stole thousands of dollars from a Waikiki apartment owners association that she oversaw as president.

Joyner, 65, who is president of the Dr. Martin Luther King Day Coalition of Hawai'i, said she pleaded no-contest to avoid negative publicity. She was indicted on second-degree theft by an O'ahu grand jury in March.

"I'm terribly sorry for the consequences for the Martin Luther King Day celebration," she said yesterday. "In terms of raising funds for it, this will be devastating."

The former on-site manager of the apartments — identified in court records as Grant R. Peters, 55 — also was indicted, but he may be living in New York, the records say. Peters never was arrested.

Between March 1998 and October 2000, Joyner owned a business, Malenka O Hawaii, that received "several thousands of dollars" from The Association of Apartment Owners of the Kon Tiki 'Ano Hou, said Honolulu Deputy Prosecutor Randal Lee.

"She received payments from the apartment owners association for no work that could be justified," Lee said.

The next board of directors questioned those payments, he said.

Lee did not know what kind of work Malenka O Hawaii should have performed. He also did not know the amount of the stolen money.

After her no-contest plea Monday, Joyner would not comment on the case. "I'm not sure of what to say," she said.

Yesterday, she again would say nothing about Malenka O Hawaii except that it had gone out of business.

The Kon Tiki, a three-story condominium on Lili'uokalani Avenue, has 48 units, most of them rentals, including three offered as vacation rentals. Joyner owns a unit in the building.

She must return to court Dec. 10 and appear before Circuit Court Judge Richard Perkins, who will rule on Joyner's request for deferred acceptance of no contest. That would allow Joyner to have the case dismissed if she stays out of trouble for a set period of time.

If the request is denied, Joyner would face sentencing on the theft charge, which carries a maximum prison term of five years.

Her attorney, public defender William Jameson, declined to comment.

Joyner campaigned unsuccessfully for the state senate's 8th District seat (Wai'alae Iki, Hawai'i Kai) in 2000. The same year, and in 1996, Joyner was one of four presidential electors chosen by the Hawai'i Democratic Party.

Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.