Assault hearing continued two weeks

LIHUE — Parties from the defense and the prosecutor’s office are one step closer to reaching a plea agreement in the case of a Kilauea man charged with assaulting officers and resisting arrest.

Ray Kuna Harada Jr., 43, appeared before District Court Judge Trudy Senda to hear testimony from two officers he allegedly assaulted during an arrest attempt.

Instead, his hearing was continued to 1 p.m. Nov. 18 after a one-hour waiting period where attorneys scrambled to come closer to a global plea resolution just moments before the motions calendar was scheduled to begin in District Court.

“I was going to tell you that you only have about four minutes and a few seconds for the prelim if you wanted to start it,” Senda said to the parties upon entering the court.

Defense attorney Mark Zenger noted that the parties were “engaging in active ongoing plea negotiations” and would be requesting a two-week continuance.

The planned plea resolution, should it be accepted by all parties, would include two other Harada cases: a recently filed charge against Harada for bail jumping and a case that includes robbery in the first degree and two counts of kidnapping pending in the Fifth Circuit court from January, said deputy prosecutor George White.

Harada is charged with three counts of assaulting a law enforcement officer in the first degree, escape in the first degree and resisting arrest.

The amended complaint comes after Harada allegedly resisted arrest on Sept. 29 and injured two Kauai police officers near a beach access trail.

After escaping, police attempted to arrest him again on Oct. 8. He then allegedly injured KPD officer Brian Silva.

Officers had been attempting to issue a warrant for his arrest from the January robbery and kidnapping case when he failed to appear for court.

Harada is being held on $500,000 bail.