The Boy Scouts of America voiced concerns about lax supervision and unauthorized firearms being used at BSA shooting ranges weeks before an 11-year-old Boy Scout from Hilo was killed last August by the accidental discharge of an AK-47 semi-automatic rifle.
Attorneys for the family of Manuel “Manny” Carvalho, who was shot on Aug. 28, 2022, at Camp Honokaia near Honokaa, submitted as part of a motion to compel the disclosure of documents by the Boy Scouts and its Aloha Council a copy of a newsletter titled “Scout Executive Packet” dated July 18, 2022.
A headline in the newsletter read: “Shooting Sports Range Supervision is Always Required.”
The brief item below that headline stated: “Recently, several shooting sports-related incidents and near misses have occurred. During the review process, these incidents and near misses showed a pattern of not following the range’s standard operating procedures (SOPs), a lack of proper supervision, and utilizing staff-owned firearms and ammunition, including firearms prohibited in the camp’s program.”
During a court hearing Friday, Kris LaGuire, one of the attorneys representing the Carvalhos, asked Hilo Circuit Judge Henry Nakamoto if he could approach the bench to show the judge a copy of the document.
“They were saying in July of 2022, five weeks before Manny is shot and killed, that we’ve got a problem with shooting incidents and a pattern of noncompliance with … standard operating procedures, etc.,” LaGuire said.
The discovery process in the wrongful death civil lawsuit has been contentious, and Nakamoto — who had just granted a request by BSA and Aloha Council attorneys to extend their deadline to disclose documents to the plaintiffs from May 12 until May 26 — denied LaGuire’s request to approach.
“I’m not going through everything now. I’m giving them two weeks to do it,” Nakamoto told LaGuire. “ … You guys work it out, because I’m not going to be here holding you guys hands for every single thing. … If you guys got to redo the motion to compel, I’m fine with that. But I’m not going to go through every single thing, every single newsletter at this point.”
Thomas Biscup, another of the Carvalhos’ lawyers, told the court the attached newsletter “pointed out various … shooting incidents throughout the nation and recognized a problem that is basically (similar) with what’s been alleged and what the facts are in this case.”
“I want to make sure that we’re going to get those underlying documents that are responsive to our discovery request … that asks for prior incidents of shooting,” Biscup said. “I only bring it up because it’s extremely central to this case and … to depositions that are scheduled.”
Lincoln Ashida, a Hilo attorney representing the Boy Scouts of America, said he wasn’t familiar with any prior incidents Biscup or LaGuire referred to.
“What I do know is, in the 120-year history of the Boy Scouts, servicing 2.2 million youths and 150,000 troops, there has never been a firearm fatality of a scout, ever,” Ashida said.
Ashida made a motion for Nakamoto to appoint a discovery master in the case, an independent party who could examine relevant documents and decide which are to be released to the Carvalhos’ attorneys, and which would not be released due to attorney-client privilege, work product doctrine or privacy concerns.
Nakamoto told the Carvalhos’ attorneys they could decide with their clients whether they agree to a discovery master in the case.
“If the parties agree, we can take that up at the next court date,” the judge said.
The next date on the calendar is listed as a settlement conference at 2 p.m. on Aug. 23, 2024.
If no settlement is reached, a jury trial is scheduled for Oct. 28, 2024.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.