Last summer, at the request of Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro, I traveled to Honolulu and conducted a daylong training session with his prosecutors and the Honolulu police.

The training session was designed to set in place protocols and procedures to increase the conviction rate of domestic violence cases in Honolulu.

Over the past six years, I have trained prosecutors and police around the country on "evidence-based prosecution."

An evidence-based prosecution attempts to hold batterers accountable by convicting the defendant after trial, or having the defendant plead guilty without the cooperation from the victim. The reason for evidence-based prosecutions is, unlike other criminal cases, more than 75 percent of domestic violence victims refuse to cooperate with the prosecution at trial.

On Oct. 29, a commentary entitled "The Truth about Grand Juries" appeared in your newspaper, authored by three faculty members of the College of Social Sciences at the University of Hawaii-Manoa.

The article attacked the prosecutor and the grand jury process on the handling of an apparent domestic violence incident caught on videotape involving a member of the Hono- lulu Police Department where the victim refused to cooperate with the police in their investigation.

I don’t know the authors’ experience in the prosecution of domestic violence cases, but I feel compelled to state mine.

I am the bureau chief of the Domestic Violence Bureau at the Queens County District Attorney’s Office in New York City and have been an assistant district attorney for over 26 years. I also work in academia and teach domestic violence prosecution at St. John’s and Columbia law schools.

It was correctly pointed out that misdemeanor cases are rarely taken to the grand jury. The fact that this case was presented to the grand jury tells you that this Prosecutor’s Office took the case seriously and attempted to hold the officer accountable.

One of the powers of the grand jury is to issue subpoenas for witnesses. Using the grand jury for that purpose — especially given the witnesses’ reluctance to testify — was a particularly effective use of its powers.

The grand jurors, when impaneled, are sworn to decide cases fairly and impartially, and to protect citizens from unfounded accusations where there is a lack of evidence.

The suggestion that a grand jury can indict anyone, anytime, for anything, is simply untrue and insulting to the grand jurors who took the time and effort to listen to and weigh the evidence before them.

Finally, Kaneshiro’s attempt to proceed without the cooperation of the victim should be applauded. Evidence-based prosecutions are some of the most difficult cases to prove. This is because the victims themselves often attempt to undermine the prosecution of those cases. Very few counties in the country ever take the time and resources to attempt an evidence-based prosecution on these very difficult cases.

After meeting and training the domestic violence prosecutors of Honolulu, I can assure you they work very hard on these difficult and dangerous cases. The fact that Kaneshiro seeks out prosecutors with experience from across the country to train the entire staff and the police department on how to effectively handle evidence-based prosecutions, speaks volumes about the commitment to holding batterers accountable, and keeping victims of domestic violence safe in their homes.