Angry Jervis shouted threats and racial slurs, witnesses testify
By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer
Following an altercation with egg-throwing teenagers near his Lanikai home, former Bishop Estate trustee Gerard Jervis shouted racial epithets and threats to "sue everybody," including police officers who arrested him, according to an unsealed grand jury transcript.
Jervis was indicted March 20 on charges of criminal property damage, terroristic threatening, drunken driving and harassment. His lawyers have filed motions to dismiss all the charges except drunken driving, arguing that they are based on hearsay or lack of probable cause.
In response, the City Prosecutor's Office filed a copy of grand jury testimony that led to the March indictment.
Jervis was arrested after he chased a car containing four teenagers whom he said had thrown eggs at his house. Jervis' BMW sport utility vehicle collided with the teens' Ford Explorer, which veered off the road and up a guy wire supporting a telephone pole.
When the boys and Jervis got out of the cars, Jervis was "yelling and swearing" at the boys and "kept saying, 'I'm going to get you,' " according to witness Judith Wilson.
Wilson, who lives in the area, said she stepped in front of Jervis because she believed "he was going to get those kids, he was going to beat them," she testified.
"I told him he needed to stop and I told him shame on you for coming into our neighborhood and causing all this trouble," Wilson said.
"And what did he say to you, if anything?" Wilson was asked by Deputy Prosecutor Lynn Goto Uyema.
"F-U haole, get out of my way," Wilson responded. "And he was like, nose to nose, toe to toe with me."
"About how many times did he say anything to you, call you — or say the F-word to you?" Uyema asked.
"He called me F-U haole couple times, twice, but he was swearing a lot," Wilson said.
Police officer Federico Delgadillo testified that he took Jervis to the Kane'ohe police station and described his demeanor as "agitated, enraged, yelling and screaming."
"He was threatening to take everybody to court and sue everybody," Delgadillo testified. "He was saying that he's — is he supposed to just sit there and take it because I arrested him, that he should be a rollover and just stand by? That he would come after everybody involved because he's an attorney, he's been an attorney for 30 years.
"He further stated that he pays his taxes, he pays my salary, he said he was going to get those f-----g punks," Delgadillo said.
"He stated that he grew up in the housing area and that he was brought up to go after people and take care of those f-----g things himself," the officer continued.
"And that's exactly what he did, that he chased them down, he caught them and he took care of it himself. He stated that he would do that again and again and again, every day if it happened again every day," Delgadillo testified.
Another officer, Sherman Dowkin, testified that Jervis was subjected to a breathalyzer test and his blood-alcohol level was measured at .107. Under state law, driving a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol level of .08 or higher is illegal.
At the station, Dowkin said, Jervis "continued to be enraged and irate, in a very vulgar, condescending mood, meaning to myself and all the officers that were present."
TEENS TAKE THE FIFTH
The driver of the Ford Explorer, a minor, was also under the influence of alcohol, according to Dowkin. His blood alcohol level was .03. It is illegal for a minor to drive with any amount of alcohol in his system.
All four of the teens in the Ford Explorer refused to testify before the grand jury, saying they would invoke their Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination if called to the witness stand, according to court records.
Jervis' lawyer, Victor Bakke, said yesterday he could not comment on any aspect of the case without first clearing public statements with the court.
The motion to dismiss charges other than the drunken driving count is scheduled to be heard by Judge Randal Lee on Jan. 20.
In 1994, Jervis was appointed one of the then-Bishop Estate's five trustees and served almost five years during one of the estate's most turbulent periods.
He resigned in August 1999 because of an investigation into estate matters and his involvement in a sex scandal that ended with the suicide of a married, female attorney for the estate.
Since then, Jervis has been in private legal practice in Kailua, specializing in personal-injury law.
Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.