The attorney for the former manager of a Waimanalo puppy mill who has been behind bars for more than three months unable to post $200,000 bail will again try to reduce the amount when the animal cruelty case goes to trial in October.
Deputy Public Defender Steven Nichols said he plans to raise the bail issue when David Lee Becker, 37, goes before Circuit Judge Glenn Kim on Oct. 22.
Becker is charged with 153 counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty.
He entered a plea of not guilty Thursday before Circuit Judge Richard Perkins, who assigned the case to Kim. Kim presided over an earlier trial involving Becker’s employer, Bradley International.
Becker appeared in court via closed-circuit video from Oahu Community Correctional Center, where he is being held.
He could be fined as much as $306,000 and spend up to a year in jail, if convicted.
At a bail hearing on June 18, Deputy Prosecutor Janice Futa successfully argued that District Judge Faye Koyanagi should double Becker’s $100,000 bail because of the possibility that he might flee the state for a second time.
He is "already a known flight risk," Futa argued.
Becker was charged May 26 but left the state before he was served with the criminal complaint.
"He knew he was wanted but he did not come back," Futa told Koyanagi.
Becker was detained June 8 in Las Vegas after the Hawaiian Humane Society located him and gave the information to the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office, which obtained a special gubernatorial warrant for his arrest.
Becker was the manager of Bradley International when the Humane Society and the police seized 153 dogs on Feb. 28, 2010.
Bradley International pled no contest in December 2010 to 153 counts of animal cruelty. However, none of the $370,701 in restitution, $306,000 in fines and $8,415 in court fees was paid because the company has gone out of business.
According to state business records, the chief executive and director of the company was Shannon Luke, the president and secretary was Becker and the treasurer was Vernon Luke.
