Kaua‘i landowner and car dealership mogul Jimmy Pflueger was indicted yesterday on criminal manslaughter and reckless endangerment charges in relation to the March 2006 Ka Loko Reservoir Dam breach that killed seven people. “We conducted a criminal investigation to determine
Kaua‘i landowner and car dealership mogul Jimmy Pflueger was indicted yesterday on criminal manslaughter and reckless endangerment charges in relation to the March 2006 Ka Loko Reservoir Dam breach that killed seven people.
“We conducted a criminal investigation to determine whether the evidence warranted a criminal trial,” said Hawai‘i Attorney General Mark Bennett, during a phone interview. “We evaluated the evidence and it was warranted.”
And because the grand jury agreed, it returned an indictment for Pflueger, Bennett said.
“This case is an absolute outrage,” said Pflueger’s attorney Bill McCorriston, during a phone interview. “Jimmy and his whole family are devastated … there is hurt, anger and confusion.”
The grand jury charged Pflueger, 82, on seven counts of manslaughter and one count of reckless endangering in the first degree. According to a report released by the state in late 2006, the dam failed because the spillway of the earthen structure had been filled in.
McCorriston said there is no evidence that shows Pflueger filled in the spillway or ordered it so.
When the dam burst in the early morning hours of March 14, 2006, it took the lives of Alan Dingwall, Daniel Arroyo, Rowan Fehring-Dingwall, Aurora Fehring, Christina McNees, Timothy Noonan Jr., and Carl Rotstein.
McCorriston said the same report that states the dam failed because the spillway was filled in indicates that the state and county held just as much responsibility for the failure. “Why one man was indicted is beyond me,” he said.
A large portion of the court calendar in 2009 has been reserved to resolve the civil litigation that came about from the dam failure. Now there will be a criminal case as well.
Bruce Fehring, from whose property the seven people were swept, would not comment on yesterday’s developments upon order from his attorney Terisa Tico.
Bennett said Pflueger’s criminal trial will most likely be on Kaua‘i sometime next year.
“Pflueger will self-surrender sometime next week,” McCorriston said. “He will go through booking procedures and post bail.”
Bail has been set at $71,000. “He was deemed a low flight risk,” Bennett said.
Pflueger could be facing a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $20,000 or $10,000 fine or both.
Earlier in the week McCorriston had requested that Bennett be removed from prosecuting the criminal case due to a conflict of interest. The court denied his motion.
McCorriston said Bennett admitted in open court that he was only presenting evidence to the grand jury that would support the prosecution in the case. “We have acted ethically and properly,” Bennett said in response to McCorriston’s request for disqualification. “The attorney general of the state of Hawai‘i is the top law enforcement officer and I have acted properly within that capacity.”
“They did not present all the evidence,” McCorriston said. “And I don’t fault the grand jury for this indictment.”
Pflueger’s attorney feels that the indictment was issued now because the “civil case is set to go to trial early next year and they know the criminal indictment will prejudice them in the civil case.”
“We believe that the evidence justified the presentation to a grand jury of a case charging James Pfleuger with manslaughter for recklessly causing the deaths,” Bennett said in a prepared statement.
Bennett said on the phone that Pflueger will likely be arraigned “within a month” on the island of Kaua‘i. “This indictment is just an accusation,” he said. “The law cloaks James Pflueger within a presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law.”
“We are confident Jimmy will be vindicated in the jury trial where he will certainly be found innocent,” McCorriston said.
• Adam Harju, editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 227) or aharju@kauaipubco.com
