Posted on: Saturday, June 4, 2005
Accused policeman to be released
By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer
Honolulu police officer Robert Sylva, facing federal trial on charges of trafficking in crystal methamphetamine, yesterday won a bid to be released on bail after suggesting that he be supervised by another HPD officer with his own history of problems with the law.
In federal detention since his arrest March 28 by FBI agents, Sylva, 48, a 22-year HPD veteran, asked U.S. Magistrate Leslie Kobayashi to release him to the custody of fellow HPD officer William Lurbe, who entered a deferred no-contest plea in February to misdemeanor criminal charges of reckless endangerment and harassment.
Kobayashi approved Sylva's release over the objections of Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Kawahara, who said Lurbe, 44, a lifelong friend of Sylva's, was not qualified to supervise Sylva.
Kobayashi said Sylva can be released from the Federal Detention Center on Monday morning after he posts a $25,000 bond and is fitted with an electronic tracking device to be worn whenever he leaves Lurbe's house for pre-approved visits to his attorney or for medical treatment.
Kawahara asked Kobayashi to delay Sylva's release until at least noon on Monday so he can appeal her ruling to Chief Federal Judge David Ezra. Kobayashi declined.
Sylva's lawyer, Alvin Nishimura, said Sylva has been held in "the SHU," the special holding unit at the Federal Detention Center, "for 23 hours a day every day since he was arrested."
Nishimura also is a lifelong friend of Sylva's and said his client needs drug treatment and mental health counseling. "He's not going to get any better sitting in the SHU 23 hours a day," Nishimura said, acknowledging that Sylva has been segregated from the rest of the inmate population for his own safety.
Prosecutor Kawahara said Lurbe is not qualified to keep an eye on Sylva.
"He has his own personal issues and demons that he has to deal with," Kawahara said, noting the recent criminal case against Lurbe, which grew from a Sept. 5, 2003 traffic incident in Windward O'ahu.
Lurbe, who was off duty, forced off the road another car that was trying to pass him and then became involved in a physical altercation with the other driver and with a witness to the incident, according to court records.
He was charged with second-degree reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor, and two counts of harassment, a petty misdemeanor, entering the deferred no-contest plea on March 22 of this year.
State Circuit Judge Rhonda Nishimura permitted Lurbe to enter the plea — which would erase the charges from Lurbe's record if he stays trouble-free for a year — over the objections of the Honolulu prosecuting attorney's office.
Deputy Prosecutor Chastity Tom argued that Lurbe shouldn't be permitted to enter such a deferred plea because he had already made a similar plea when charged with another criminal offense, second-degree terroristic threatening, in 1993. Details of that charge were not immediately available yesterday.
But Judge Nishimura granted Lurbe's request and also gave him permission to continue carrying a firearm. Without that dispensation, Lurbe could not have continued to work as a police officer.
Prosecutor Kawahara said in court yesterday that the 2003 traffic incident occurred just two days after Lurbe was "punitively removed and discharged from the (HPD) Narcotics-Vice Division for credibility problems."
Lurbe was disciplined for falsifying claims for gasoline reimbursement, but attorney Nishimura said yesterday that Lurbe's "odometer was broken and he had to estimate his mileage." Nishimura claimed that Lurbe's estimates were less than the actual number of miles he drove.
In January 2001, a federal court jury found Lurbe and another HPD officer liable for $400,000 in civil damages in a lawsuit filed by a former Honolulu man who spent three years in prison for a gun possession conviction that was later overturned by the Hawai'i Supreme Court.
The size of that judgment was later reduced in settlement talks with the city, but the precise amount of money ultimately paid on behalf of the two officers could not be determined yesterday.
Sylva faces prison time of 10 years to life if convicted of the drug charges against him. According to court records, Sylva sold methamphetimine on three occasions to confidential informants, including once when Sylva was wearing his HPD uniform.
Nishimura told the judge yesterday that Sylva has serious personal problems, becoming depressed after his father, mother and child all died within 18 months.
"We want to get him help. He needs substance abuse counseling. I've known him to be a kind and gentle soul all his life," Nishimura said told the judge, his voice breaking with emotion.
Magistrate Kobayashi noted that Sylva won't be accepted in a licensed drug treatment program because he is a police officer "and his presence there would impact on others at the facility."
Lurbe told Kobayashi he was willing to supervise Sylva.
"I'll make sure he doesn't violate his restrictions," Lurbe said.
"I'm here to support him," Lurbe said of Sylva. "He's a longtime friend, almost like a family member."
