The key prosecution witness against a Honolulu police major charged with extortion and other crimes testified Thursday that she "felt bad" about her grand jury testimony against him.
Over objections from federal prosecutors, Doni Mei Imose testified in U.S. District Court at a hearing to determine whether police Maj. Carlton Nishimura should remain in custody pending trial.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard L. Puglisi ordered Nishimura, 55, released on $150,000 bail — $25,000 of it in cash. Puglisi said Nishimura can be released into his parents’ custody and must wear an electronic monitoring device, but delayed enforcement of his order until today to give prosecutors time to appeal.
Nishimura has been in custody since Nov. 14, when the FBI raided his home in Waianae and said its agents recovered a half-pound of methamphetamine.
However, only 29.7 grams of the substance recovered, about an ounce, tested positive for methamphetamine, according to an analysis by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Southwest Laboratory in Vista, Calif.
The rest of the sample, which totalled 222.8 grams, was drug-free, the lab said.
Nishimura’s lawyer, federal Public Defender Peter Wolff Jr., said Nishimura doesn’t know anything about the drugs found in his home. He said other crystalline substances FBI agents found were harmless rock salt and a training aid that Nishimura used when talking to youth about staying away from drugs.
Wolff submitted letters from friends attesting to Nishimura’s conservative, no-drugs lifestyle and suggested the drug could have been left in the home by Imose, who is awaiting sentencing for conspiracy for her role in a methamphetamine distribution ring.
Wolff said the FBI is still waiting for the results of fingerprint tests of the six plastic bags that contained the 222.8 grams and of the paper bag in which the plastic bags were found.
Imose testified before a grand jury that indicted Nishimura on Feb. 17.
On or about March 14, she recorded a conversation in which she admitted to her previous lawyer, Pamela Tamashiro, that she lied to the grand jury and expressed a desire to set things straight with Nishimura. Imose also told how she and her husband, Jay Crisolo, cooperated with authorities in the hope of avoiding indictment for Imose and getting a break in sentencing for Crisolo, who is facing a mandatory life prison term for drug trafficking.
After his February indictment, Nishimura was prohibited from having contact with Imose, who has known Nishimura for 20 years, Wolff said.
Imose said she went to visit Nishimura at his home, then continued to see him from about April to July or August, staying with him on weekends and having a sexual relationship.
"I felt bad in some way and wanted to undo what I did," Imose testified Thursday.
