Conviction of woman jailed in contempt voided

The Hawaii Supreme Court has overturned the contempt conviction of a Kapolei woman who went to jail for more than a day for allegedly violating a court order involving her son and his girlfriend.

Corrina Gowan said she cried when her husband told her of the Supreme Court decision and cried again when her son’s lawyer confirmed that the high court had set aside her conviction.

"I feel justified and sad," Gowan said.

She said she had never even been arrested before and was worried the petty misdemeanor conviction could have cost her her job as a teacher’s aide at Wai­anae High School.

In a unanimous opinion issued Wednesday, the justices found that Circuit Judge Edward Kubo Jr. should not have sent Gowan to jail for 100 hours for summary contempt of court because Kubo did not witness her alleged violations. Kubo later amended the sentence to 24 hours, but by the time Gowan was released from Oahu Community Correctional Center, she had been in custody for more than a day.

The justices said Kubo should have notified Gowan of the charge against her and turned the matter over to another judge for a hearing to determine whether the allegations were true.

Kubo sent Gowan to jail Dec. 6 after the prosecutor told him that Gowan had contacted her son’s girlfriend and parents.

Kubo said a month after jailing Gowan that he found her guilty of being an accomplice to her son violating Kubo’s court order, which prohibits the son from having direct or indirect contact with his girlfriend.

Kalyn Gowan, 21, was awaiting trial for allegedly kidnapping and assaulting his 19-year-old girlfriend.

Following a trial in January, a state jury found Kalyn Gowan not guilty of assault and felony abuse but was unable to reach verdicts on two misdemeanor abuse charges. Kubo acquitted Kalyn of kidnapping after finding that the prosecutor failed to pre­sent sufficient evidence to the jury to support the charge.

The retrial for the misdemeanor abuse charges began this week.

Corrina Gowan said she chose not to go to work while waiting for a response on her appeal for the past 2 1⁄2 months and had spent the time at home crying.