A state judge dismissed the sexual assault case Wednesday against a Honolulu police officer accused of groping a teenage girl while on duty.
An Oahu grand jury indicted 35-year-old Kramer Aoki last November on a third-degree sexual assault charge, a class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison. The indictment says that on Sept. 6, Aoki, as a law enforcement officer, knowingly subjected a person in custody to sexual contact.
Aoki is accused of placing his hand on the breast of a teenage girl he had pulled over for speeding. After the alleged incident, Aoki let the girl go with a warning.
He challenged the applicability of the charge against him, claiming the girl was not in custody.
His lawyer, Thomas Otake, told Circuit Judge Glenn Kim, "A traffic stop is not custody."
Deputy Prosecutor Lynn Costales said the girl was not under arrest, but she was not free to leave because Aoki had her driver’s license and vehicle registration when he touched her.
"The allegations here, if they are true, represent an awful abuse of power," Kim said. "As a citizen, a member of this community, in my personal capacity, if this were up to a vote, I’d vote ‘yes’ in a heartbeat. The statute should cover conduct like this."
As a judge, however, Kim said, his job is to apply the law as written.
The chapter of the state statute that covers sexual assaults does not define "custody."
And Kim said the common definition of the term and the reasons state lawmakers gave for adding that particular charge to the statutes in 2004 do not support the state’s interpretation of the word "custody."
He dismissed the indictment against Aoki with prejudice, which means the state cannot refile the charge. He told Costales that the state can charge Aoki with a different crime, such as misdemeanor sexual assault.
Costales said she will need to evaluate whether to appeal Kim’s ruling or charge Aoki with a different crime.
A Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman said the department will continue to restrict Aoki’s police powers and keep him on desk duty pending the outcome of the its administrative investigation into the sexual assault accusation.
