Island Crime Beat: Morality and legality

Fifth Circuit Chief Judge Randal Valenciano sentenced a husband and wife last week after an incident stemming from marital infidelity resulted in assault, family abuse, and terroristic threatening charges.

Chief Judge Randal Valenciano explained that he was sentencing the couple in their respective cases on the legality and not to the morality of the matter. While the affair likely played a role in creating the situation, Valenciano said, the actions of the husband and wife broke the law.

The incident began when the husband and his girlfriend were spotted by the man’s wife, who had some of their children in the car. The husband — who, according to court statements, left his wife and nine children after several years of marriage, for a woman as young as his eldest daughter — drove to the Kaua‘i Police Department Headquarters, anticipating trouble.

After driving back through Kapa‘a, the husband was spotted again by his wife, who then confronted him at an area park.

The wife apparently leaned inside the husband’s car and slapped the girlfriend. There was reportedly a 3-year-old child in the car at the time.

The husband then got into a physical altercation with his teenage son, who reportedly confronted his father as the situation escalated. Threats were made and the husband said he acted with poor judgment in court.

The husband pleaded no contest to abuse of family or household member and second-degree terroristic threatening.

The wife pleaded guilty to first-degree unauthorized entry into a vehicle, third-degree assault, and second-degree terroristic threatening.

This is sad to see a relationship so irretrievably broken, but the Circuit Court case is about what is legal and illegal, Valenciano said.

The wife was likely stalking the husband and then she threatened him and his girlfriend. The husband reacted with poor judgment against his wife and son, he added.

Both defendants had clean records and each was granted a deferred acceptance of their no contest plea. This means that after successfully completing a probationary period the conviction could possibly be removed from their record.

The couple was ordered to undergo anger management classes and a complete a one-year misdemeanor probation. Some of the counts were reduced from felony charges.

Morality and legality are not always mutually exclusive.

In some matters the ideals of moral turpitude could apply to a defendant’s conduct if it is judged to have bearing on the commission of a crime and contrary to honesty and justice.

In this Circuit Court case, Valenciano saw the extramarital affair as lacking virtuous conduct. The husband’s actions were contrary to personal moral character but the affair did not in and of itself constitute a criminal act.

The Circuit Court would not get into the civil issues of the affair or other marital troubles, he said. That is a separate case and is under the jurisdiction of Family Court, which was created to provide a fair, speedy, economical, and accessible forum for the resolution of matters involving families and children, according to the Family Court website.

Family Court hears juvenile cases of delinquency, status offenses, detention, abuse, neglect, adoption, and termination of parental rights. It also hears juvenile and adult cases regarding legal guardianship.

Family Court’s domestic violence cases include requests for restraining orders against family members, and abuse of family and household member cases that do not go to jury trial.

It also hears domestic relations cases of divorce, child support, paternity, uniform child custody, jurisdiction cases and custody matters.

The Family Court issues deal with juveniles and very sensitive domestic matters, so the hearings are not open to the public or to the press.

People  involved in a Family Court case must stand outside of the courtroom until a Sheriff’s Deputy or other court officer comes out to call their case.