Jury finds Mayor Kenoi not guilty on all counts of theft

HILO >> In a stunning and unanimous verdict Tuesday, a Hawaii island jury took 24 hours to find Mayor Billy Kenoi not guilty of all charges related to personal and alcohol purchases that Kenoi billed to the county — and later repaid — from 2011 to 2015.

A clearly emotional Kenoi hugged his wife, Takako, following the verdict and was crushed by supporters as he walked briskly out of Third Circuit Court without speaking to reporters.

Kenoi’s attorney Todd Eddins — a colleague from their days together in the Honolulu public defender’s office — told reporters outside court, “From the get-go we described the false accusations as flimsy. The trial established that that characterization was an understatement. This was an odious attempt to take down a once-in-a-generation good, decent man.”

Attorney General Doug Chin said in a statement, “The crime of theft requires proof a person intended to permanently deprive his victim of what he stole. The prosecution argued that not paying back funds to the county of Hawaii until after the press caught him was proof of Mayor Kenoi’s intent. We respect the verdict and thank the jurors for their service.”

Kenoi faced four counts of theft — two of them Class C felonies and two of them misdemeanors. A felony conviction could have jeopardized Kenoi’s ability to work as an attorney after his second consecutive term expires at the end of the year.

He also was charged with one count of making a false statement under oath for billing the county $200 in 2014 for what Kenoi described as “Luncheon with U.S. Conference of Mayors Visitors.” Kenoi testified that he entertained the son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren of the head of the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Conference of Mayors at Volcano House and celebrated the birthday of one of the children.

The evidence phase of the trial lasted six days and spanned parts of two weeks.

Twenty witnesses testified, including former state Rep. Tommy Waters, Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho and celebrity chef Sam Choy.

Following closing arguments that ended right before 1 p.m. Monday, jurors were handed the case and returned to the temporary courtroom of Oahu-based Judge Dexter Del Rosario almost exactly 24 hours later to deliver their unanimous not-guilty verdicts on all five counts.

A Hawaii island grand jury originally indicted Kenoi on March 23 on two counts of felony theft, two counts of misdemeanor theft, three counts of tampering with a government record and one count of false swearing.

Kenoi was never charged with the more eye-catching expenses that he billed to the county for a $1,200 surfboard, $400 that he spent at the Camelot Restaurant and Lounge hostess bar on Oahu and an $892 tab at the Club Evergreen hostess bar on Oahu — expenses that Kenoi repaid.

Throughout the trial, state deputy Attorney General Kevin Takata repeated the theme that Kenoi only made the reimbursements following annual requests for his purchasing card, or pCard, spending by Hawaii island newspaper reporter Nancy Cook Lauer.

Takata repeatedly highlighted the time it took between Kenoi’s initial purchases and his reimbursements, which in one case were 802 days apart.

In his closing arguments, Takata said Kenoi only repaid the county “before the media busted him.”

Kenoi reimbursed the county $31,112.59.

In a setback for the prosecution, Judge Del Rosario last week dismissed the three counts related to tampering with government documents.

Kenoi’s attorneys maintained throughout the trial that there was no prohibition against purchasing alcohol on his pCard. Any liquor expenses, they said, were made while Kenoi was trying to use his connections to keep the Big Island running during the Great Recession — or to thank volunteers at events that benefited the island’s economy.

The first count of second-degree theft involved nine pCard purchases that Kenoi billed to the county in 2011 for hosting people associated with the Big Island Film Festival at Sansei Restaurant ($422.69); $140 spent at the Chart House restaurant; a $479.88 bill for the Hilton lobby bar in Baltimore for an after-hours gathering of people attending a U.S. Conference of Mayors event, followed the next night by a Washington, D.C., outing for staff of Hawaii’s congressional delegation that Kenoi lumped in with the U.S. Conference of Mayors event; a personal charge of $292.60 for a wedding present for his nephew that involved a two-night stay at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel; $81.24 that Kenoi billed to his pCard for a garment bag at Target en route to a flight to Honolulu; $130 spent on mostly alcohol at Macaroni Grill in Kona where the mayor and his guest testified they discussed county issues; $181.16 at Huggos; and $320 for a luncheon in honor of outgoing Kenoi aide Kevin Dayton, who is now the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Capitol bureau chief. Kenoi and others in his administration testified that discussions at the luncheon, where wine was served, included who would take over projects that Dayton had shepherded for Hawaii County.

The second count of second-degree theft involved purchases Kenoi made in 2013 for an outing to Clyde’s Gallery ($600) that Kenoi said involved networking with congressional staff members; a $125.95 purchase of beer and hard liquor at a Kona Longs Drugs that Kenoi testified was intended to thank volunteers at Sam Choy’s annual poke contest; a $201.68 purchase at a Kona Longs for hard liquor that Kenoi said he gave to island dignitaries attending the Tahiti Fete after they presented Kenoi with gifts of paddles and he wanted to reciprocate; $300 spent at a Manoa restaurant in which Kenoi testified he tried to recruit Waters as corporation counsel while simultaneously trying to network with an Oceanic Time Warner cable representative to figure out whom to contact to improve broadband service on Hawaii island.

A third count — of third-degree theft — involved the Volcano House luncheon.

A separate count of third-degree theft involved a $170 purchase of alcohol at Tommy Bahamas in 2014 that Kenoi testified was related to hosting representatives from a lucrative meeting planners conference.