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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Ex-police recruit goes on trial for allegedly threatening wife

By Ken Kobayashi
Advertiser Courts Writer

A woman testified yesterday that her police-recruit husband pulled a gun on her and threatened to kill her after she gave a friend a kiss on the cheek.

Sheryl Gomez, 24, told a jury her husband Ernie Gomez threatened to kill her and her friend at the parking lot of Pearl Harbor's Bloch Arena the morning of May 30 last year.

" 'I have a gun right now and I'm going to put a bullet through both of your heads,' " she testified her husband told them.

He later pulled a gun on her at their 'Ewa Beach home, the wife said.

But attorney Victor Bakke told the jury in the opening of his client's trial yesterday that Gomez was tired of his wife's infidelity. He did not, however, threaten her with a gun or knife, Bakke said.

Ernie Gomez, 27, is on trial on charges of terroristic threatening and abuse of a household member. A conviction could result in a maximum five-year prison term.

At the time of the alleged threats, Ernie Gomez was in the police recruit class and scheduled to graduate in about two weeks. He resigned, and is free on $75,000 bail.

Sheryl Gomez, who said she and her husband are divorcing, testified that the relationship with the friend was not romantic or sexual and she only gave him a "tap kiss" on the cheek. She said they were at the parking lot to attend a basketball game when her husband suddenly appeared with a video camera and made the threats.

"I couldn't believe it," she said. "I was just in shock."

The wife said later that day at home, a "furious" Ernie Gomez pulled the gun, demanded to know the identity of the friend and told her he was going to kill her.

City Deputy Prosecutor Maurice Arrisgado told the jury Ernie Gomez also punched and kicked his wife and threatened her with a knife at their home.

In his opening statements, Bakke said the wife and the friend were "making out" at the parking lot and the wife "panicked" because she realized her husband caught her and the friend, both members of the Hawai'i National Guard. Bakke said the wife was upset because she realized that adultery is illegal under the Military Code of Justice.

The defense attorney said the two got into an argument at their home with pushing and shoving, but his client never beat her.

The trial is expected to continue through the week in Circuit Judge Michael Town's courtroom.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.