An Oahu circuit judge has dismissed a first-degree attempted-murder case involving a prison guard, siding with the defense lawyer that the defendant’s right to a speedy trial was violated, and has barred the state from reprosecuting the case.

In early 2010, Daniel Kahanaoi was being held at Oahu Community Correctional Center, awaiting trial for the murder of attorney Craig Kimsel in his Kailua home, when he allegedly stabbed OCCC adult corrections officer Bennie Tucker six times in the head, neck and arm.

On Dec. 2, 2010, prosecutors charged Kahanaoi, then 45, with first-degree attempted murder, which could have gotten him a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Instead, Circuit Judge Glenn Kim dismissed the stabbing case April 8, nearly four and a half years after Kahanaoi was charged, due to a violation of the rule guaranteeing a defendant’s right to a speedy trial.

Kim dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning the state cannot charge Kahanaoi again for the crime.

Following the OCCC stabbing, Kahanaoi was tried and convicted on July 2, 2010, of second-degree murder in the April 2009 shooting death of Kimsel, a conviction that typically carries a life sentence with the possibility of parole.

The jury rejected the state’s request for an extended sentence of life without parole. The judge sentenced Kahanaoi to life with parole plus 20 years by imposing the maximum penalties for murder with a firearm and burglary with a firearm.

Kahanaoi’s lawyer, Thomas Otake, asked that the stabbing case, which dates to Feb. 24, 2010, be dismissed because of delays by prosecutors. He said Deputy Prosecutor Katherine Kealoha was initially assigned the case, and a trial had been originally set for Feb. 22, 2011. He said from 2011 to 2014, the case was reassigned numerous times.

Kealoha is the wife of Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha.

“It was unclear at times which prosecutor was assigned to the case, and whether Ms. Kealoha was eventually going to take the case back as her own,” Otake wrote.

He also wrote that Deputy Prosecutor Jacob Delaplane told the court days before a scheduled Sept. 8, 2014, trial date the case was not assigned to any prosecutor.

Delaplane argued that Otake shares the blame for trial delays.

Otake filed three written requests to have the trial continued, court records show. Otake also wrote his client is accused of attacking Tucker with something with a small nail at the end, and that Tucker’s injuries were minor, did not require medical treatment, hospitalization or time off.

Delaplane criticized Otake’s argument that the seriousness of the alleged offense is lessened because the injuries were minor.

“The penal liability for criminal attempts are not predicated on the result of the defendant’s conduct but rather, the defendant’s dangerous disposition,” Delaplane wrote.

Tucker, the corrections officer, said when reached at his Makaha home Friday that he was surprised at the outcome since he hadn’t heard from the prosecutor’s office in at least two years.

“I’m not OK with him dismissed, like he didn’t do anything,” Tucker, 58, said.

“I was stabbed six times,” said the 34-year veteran of the Department of Public Safety. “It’s on video. We had the evidence. We had the shank that he used to commit this act,” which was a sharpened nail or piece of metal.

“I didn’t get killed, thank God,” Tucker said. “What his intention was, I don’t know, but his action was to inflict bodily harm.”

He added: “Justice should be served. You don’t let a guy who did something wrong just walk away. There has to be consequences.”

He said he was never offered time off or any counseling by the Department of Public Safety, and went back to work the next day.

Tucker said the last time a deputy prosecutor contacted him was to ask whether he would be satisfied with a first-degree assault charge.

“I said, ‘Whatever you folks feel, I would be willing to work with that,’” he said. “That was my final communication.”

Tucker said he agrees that prosecutors “dragged it out, because he’s looking at a long term because of the murder of the attorney.” He also said he would have understood a dismissal had the judge allowed Kahanaoi to be recharged.