A Hilo Circuit Court jury on Thursday convicted a man accused of attempted second-degree murder with the lesser offense of first-degree assault.
It took the jury of nine men and three women about a day of deliberations to reach a unanimous decision in the trial of 40-year-old Waimea resident Joel Hanalei White. The trial, from jury selection to verdict, took about 2 1/2 weeks.
Judge Henry Nakamoto scheduled sentencing for 8:30 a.m. Nov. 19. First-degree assault is a Class B felony that carries a potential 10-year prison sentence upon conviction.
White admitted to slashing the throat of Jeremy Nicholas, then 20, and stabbing Nicholas seven times in the back on April 17, 2014, at Nicholas’ studio apartment in Waikoloa. Nicholas, an admitted drug dealer, claimed the attack was unprovoked. White, who pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder charge, maintained Nicholas threatened to kill him and his then-girlfriend, Ahlea Giles.
Police found about 1 1/2 pounds of cocaine in Nicholas’ home as well as a gun that was registered to a friend, Keoni Cassidy, which was in an open nightstand next to Nicholas’ bed.
White was convicted May 7, 2015, by a Kona jury of the attempted second-degree murder charge, which carries a mandatory sentence of life with the possibility of parole. The Kona jury also dismissed a first-degree burglary charge against White.
But Kona Circuit Judge Ronald Ibarra, who has since retired, granted the retrial after a hearing May 29, 2015, in which White’s lawyers argued the court erred in failing to instruct the jury on extreme mental or emotional disturbance — also known as EMED — as a possible factor in the stabbing, and also for not allowing the jury the possibility of considering the lesser charge of attempted manslaughter.
After the verdict was announced Thursday, Deputy Prosecutor Annaliese Wolf made a motion to revoke White’s $150,000 bail and requested a hearing on the matter “as soon as possible.” She also requested White “be remanded into custody pending that hearing.”
Jacob Delaplane, White’s Honolulu-based attorney, argued that White has no prior criminal record and is currently on in-home monitoring.
“I think that is sufficient to both protect the public and insure that he’s gonna show up for his sentencing date. He’s made all of his court dates in this case,” Delaplane said. “… He had no history evading anyone. In fact, in this case, he waited around for police to come back. So there is no indication that the defendant will not show up for his court date. And his in-home monitoring is sufficient to insure that he’s staying in one place and is certainly no danger to the public.”
Wolf described Delaplane’s statement about White’s lack of a criminal record as “a mischaracterization.”
“He does have a criminal conviction for contempt of court, and he also has a pending charge for (methamphetamine possession) for a matter that occurred while he was on house arrest in his home. So I have grounds to ask for a hearing on this matter,” she said.
“And he was also arrested falsely for a sex assault that he was on home monitoring for,” Delaplane interjected. “He was kept in jail for 10 days even though the police knew that he had an ankle monitor on. So there’s been a lot of strange things leading up to this case. There’s absolutely no reason to remand him into custody. The police and the state have already shown an abuse of this process. So I’d ask that instead of allowing that abuse to continue that the in-home monitoring remain in place.”
Nakamoto denied the motion and told Wolf she could follow up with a written motion. At Wolf’s request, the judge set a hearing on the written motion still to be filed for 8:30 a.m. Oct. 10.
“Respectfully making an oral motion to shorten time for that hearing,” Wolf said.
“Denied,” the judge replied.
In the incident Delaplane alluded to, White faced first-degree sexual assault and kidnapping charges after a 36-year-old woman being treated at Hilo Medical Center reported May 31 that she was abducted and kept for several days at a home in Hawaiian Paradise Park. The woman alleged she was beaten, sexually assaulted and threatened with a firearm.
Three women face charges in connection with that case. Charges against White were dismissed June 13 by Hilo District Judge Charles Hite at the request of prosecutors “in the interest of justice and for further investigation,” according to court minutes. The dismissal was without prejudice, which means charges can be refiled.
Nicholas now lives in Sarasota Springs, N.Y., and returned to testify for the prosecution. According to a Jan. 18, 2018, story in the Albany Times Union, Nicholas and a woman companion were arrested the previous day and charged with felony drug offenses after police responded to their home after a reported 3 a.m. disturbance. A search of the home reportedly turned up more than an ounce of cocaine, 1 1/2 pounds of marijuana and $5,400 in cash.
The Tribune-Herald was unable to find a resolution of that case.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.