Evidence contested in murder trial

LIHUE — The trial for a man accused of killing his elderly landlord is scheduled for next month, and the battle over what evidence will be admissible in court is heating up.

Peter Grewer’s court-appointed defense attorney is asking the judge overseeing the case to suppress statements he made to police on the day Joellen Hartman was found beaten and stabbed to death inside her Omao home.

Police discovered Hartman’s body on the afternoon of June 19, 2018, when they were called to the 67-year-old retired teacher’s residence on Punee Road for a wellness check.

According to court documents filed by Deputy Public Defender Stephanie Char, who reviewed body cam footage of officers on the scene, police arrived at the residence shortly after 4 p.m. They spoke with Grewer, who lived in a separate ohana house on the property. After a few questions about his landlord, Grewer was allowed to go back inside, and police moved on to the main house to check on Hartman.

Once police realized the woman was dead, they called dispatch to check on Grewer’s criminal background and firearms registrations. The acting police sergeant arrived a few minutes later, talked to the responding officers and checked out the crime scene.

The acting sergeant began questioning Grewer and, according to Char, may have overstepped his bounds because Grewer was not read his rights until later in the evening.

“These questions began as investigatory questions, but quickly became sustained and coercive,” Char wrote in her motion to suppress Grewer’s statements to police.

After the interview, Grewer was made to sit outside his house, where another officer kept an eye on him. When a KPD detective arrived about an hour later, he found Grewer sitting on a small, wood plank in the driveway and observed scratches on his chest.

By around 6:30 p.m., senior officers in the KPD’s Investigative Services Bureau began to arrive. After inspecting the scene and the body, they noted that the circumstances looked suspicious and called headquarters to report the death would be investigated as a homicide.

A detective then asked Grewer if he would be willing to go to the station to answer more questions. Grewer agreed, but asked to go inside first to put on a shirt and grab his phone so he could call his attorney on the way, according to court documents.

Two officers escorted Grewer into the ohana house holding flashlights, which, according to Char, they shined in “various areas of Mr. Grewer’s house.” Char wrote that Grewer informed the police he did not invite them in but was told by one detective it was for “officer safety.”

At the police station, Grewer was brought to an interrogation room with two detectives, who told him Hartman was dead and informed him that he wasn’t under arrest.

One of the detectives, Darren Rose, attempted to read Grewer his Miranda rights, but when there appeared to be some question about the word “custody,” Rose said, “You are not in custody. Anytime you wanna walk out that door, you get up and walk out that door,” according to Char’s transcription of the body cam footage.

Char wrote that Grewer then told the detective, “Let’s go, I’m ready to go. I’m ready to go,” at which point Rose motioned to his partner and mouthed something to the effect of, “get the handcuffs.”

Grewer was then placed under arrest for suspected murder, and one of the detectives confronted him about the scratches on his chest. Grewer responded, “Call Walmart.”

What followed in the conversation is not clear from Char’s description. Her motion to suppress says only that Grewer answered in some way, and Rose “allows Mr. Grewer to continue talking, and even prompts him with more unmirandized questions,” referencing the fact that the suspect still had not been read his Miranda rights in their entirety.

Char declined to comment on the motion when asked about it Monday but did say the case is expected to go to trial. She recently filed a subpoena and got a court order compelling Walmart to provide video surveillance of the store’s parking lot in Lihue for several days in the week leading up to Hartman’s murder.

According to the motion to suppress, Rose finally told Grewer, “I can’t engage in a conversation with you if I gotta advise you of your rights. Simple as that. And, you would have to waive your rights for me to engage in this conversation.”

“Thereafter, there are a series of back and forth questioning by the Detective, and answering by Mr. Grewer all of which were unmirandized,” Char wrote, concluding that the statements her client made to police were obtained in violation his constitutional rights.

When asked about the case, Kauai County Prosecutor Justin Kollar said only that, “We are currently preparing and looking forward to going to trial.”

According to a previous TGI report, on June 19 Hartman had driven Grewer, who owed her money, to eviction court and an eviction was granted.

According to witnesses, Grewer threatened Hartman twice the day of the proceedings, once in the vehicle on the way to the hearing and again in front of the courthouse.