LIHU‘E — Former Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Mauna Kea Trask has left the county Office of the Prosecuting Attorney for the Office of the County Attorney. His last day in the prosecutor’s office was Thursday, and he started as a deputy
LIHU‘E — Former Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Mauna Kea Trask has left the county Office of the Prosecuting Attorney for the Office of the County Attorney.
His last day in the prosecutor’s office was Thursday, and he started as a deputy county attorney on Friday.
Kaua‘i Police Deputy Chief Mark Begley announced the move at May’s Police Commission meeting where he called Trask a “valuable resource.”
“After spending four years working in criminal law, I am looking for a new challenge,” Trask said via e-mail.
“Working in the County Attorney’s Office will allow me to continue to make a positive contribution to this community I love, while also presenting me with new challenges and a chance to explore other areas of law.
“My courtroom experience will definitely be helpful if called upon to assist with civil litigation on behalf of the county,” Trask said. “I’m very excited to put my experience to work for the people of Kaua‘i in this new capacity.”
Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho, county prosecuting attorney, said she will take over Trask’s case load and has begun a search for a new attorney to replace Trask.
“I will be taking care of those cases personally so that they will get the attention they deserve,” said Iseri-Carvalho, adding that Trask had been handling sex-assault and similar criminal cases.
Iseri-Carvalho as a county deputy prosecuting attorney had a high success rate in prosecuting sex-assault cases before she left the office to join the Kaua‘i County Council.
Trask’s ideal replacement will have experience with felony cases, said Iseri-Carvalho, adding that her office is currently down from 10.5 attorneys to 7.5 attorneys.
There were 5.5 attorneys when she took office, she said.
Trask was with the prosecutor’s office for three years, and was a public defender on O‘ahu before returning to his birth island. He is the son of Arthur “Pepe” Trask of Anahola.
Iseri-Carvalho said Mauna Kea Trask made the move to get a more flexible schedule to spend more time with his young family, adding that it is typical for all the full-time attorneys in the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney to work seven days a week.
At her children’s baseball games on weekends, it is not uncommon for Iseri-Carvalho to be reading police reports, she said.
“It’s taxing, I think, for the attorney,” she said. And with some changes in the way cases are handled in her office, Iseri-Carvalho said the number of attorneys assigned to district court has fallen from two to one.
Further, her strategy of “vertical prosecution” means the same team of attorney, clerk and victim-witness advocate handles each case from start to finish, allowing development of rapport with victims, who thereby aren’t overly traumatized by having to tell their stories to several different attorneys representing them in and out of court, she said.
“That’s like re-victimizing the victim,” she said. The current system creates trust, and knowledge of the victim and the crime, as opposed to the old system where an attorney was assigned to a court instead of a case, Iseri-Carvalho said.
“We’ve pretty much tried to specialize the staff and cross-train so they can cover for each other.”
Collaborating with officers of the Kaua‘i Police Department — “the best reports lead to the best convictions” — Iseri-Carvalho said the system is a work in progress.
“It’s still in its infancy stages.”
While the search for three attorneys continues, Iseri-Carvalho said she will learn on July 1 whether or not continuing funding will be forthcoming for attorneys prosecuting domestic violence, career criminals and property crimes under state grants.
There is a career-criminal prosecution attorney under state grant, but with the availability of continuing state funding unknown until the new state fiscal year starts July 1, Iseri-Carvalho said she remains in something of a holding pattern other than actively recruiting to fill Trask’s position.
She has also applied for a grant to hire an attorney solely to handle crystal-methamphetamine (ice) cases.
County Attorney Al Castillo said he is happy to have Trask on board.
“Mauna Kea Trask is a talented and hard-working attorney who has expressed to me that he wants to make a significant contribution to our community through an appointment as deputy county attorney,” Castillo said in a prepared statement.
“I have no doubt that he will be a productive member of the team and that the people of Kaua‘i will benefit greatly from his work and dedication,” Castillo said.
