UH football player scheduled to enter plea in assault case

University of Hawaii football player Kennedy Tulimasealii is scheduled to enter a plea next month in Circuit Court on charges of assaulting his ex-girlfriend during an argument in a McCully Street apartment nearly two months ago.

Circuit Judge Richard Perkins granted a continuance Monday of Tulimasealii’s arraignment until June 27, as requested by Tulimasealii’s attorney Michael Green.

Tulimasealii, 21, was freed after posting bail of $1,000. He was arrested April 12 and charged with two counts of third-degree assault and one count each of harassment and resisting arrest.

On May 10, District Judge Lono J. Lee granted a request by Green that a jury trial be held and transferred the case to Circuit Court.

The assault and resisting-arrest charges are misdemeanors — punishable by a maximum jail term of one year and a $2,000 fine. Harassment is a petty misdemeanor — the least serious type of criminal offense in Hawaii, punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

The charges stem from an April 12 incident involving Tulimasealii and his 20-year-old ex-girlfriend at a McCully Street apartment. UH football player Ka‘aumoana Gifford, 20, also was charged with resisting arrest and harassment. The victim told police she was scratched during a fight with Tulimasealii.

Tulimasealii is scheduled to appear at a District Court preliminary hearing at 1:30 p.m. Thursday on a separate criminal property damage charge stemming from the same April 12 incident.

Gifford’s attorney, Paul Cunney, has already successfully petitioned to consolidate the resisting-arrest and harassment charges with a separate charge in which Gifford is accused of leaving the scene of a car accident in March, to be heard June 3 in District Court.

Cunney has said Gifford was a “good Samaritan” when he was accused of interfering with Tulimasealii’s arrest. Police had used pepper spray to subdue Tulimasealii, who was not wearing clothes when he ran out of the McCully complex, Cunney said.

Cunney is seeking a deferred acceptance of no-contest plea in which Gifford would plead no contest but his record would be expunged if he remains trouble-free for a specific length of time.

As for the traffic incident, Cunney said, Gifford left the scene of a fender bender when he could not reach a financial settlement with the other driver.

Tulimasealii and Gifford had been on indefinite suspension from football team-related activities since their arrests, but Gifford has since been reinstated. (See story in Sports >> C6)