Judge defers for 4 years plea by ex-HPD officer

A state judge is giving former Honolulu police officer Danson Cappo, who pleaded no contest to theft, assault and property damage charges, a chance to eventually clear the offenses from his record.

Cappo entered pleas June 15 to charges stemming from incidents involving his ex-girlfriend in 2014.

On Tuesday acting Circuit Judge Paul B.K. Wong deferred Cappo’s no-contest pleas for four years, after which time the court will drop the charges if Cappo stays out of trouble. During those four years Cappo must abide by probationlike conditions, including consuming no alcohol and submitting to random drug testing.

Wong also ordered Cappo to perform 100 hours of community service, which he must complete by December of next year, repay his ex-girlfriend $678 for taking and damaging her cellphone, and repay the state $955 for her medical treatment.

Prosecutors say Cappo was at a nightclub March 15, 2014,  when he choked a man until the man lost consciousness. The man had been dancing with Cappo’s ex-girlfriend. Cappo then took the woman into his car, threw her cellphone out of the vehicle and assaulted her, prosecutors say. The criminal property damage charge stems from a previous incident in which Cappo is accused of damaging a car window.

The ex-girlfriend, Christie Cabus, told Wong on Tuesday that Cappo had victimized her many times, “almost regularly for nearly a year before the March 2014 incident.”

In those previous incidents, Cabus said Cappo used his authority as a police officer and his service weapon to discourage her from getting the help she needed. So when she reported the nightclub incident, Cabus said, “I remember begging the responding officers to believe me and thinking that they wouldn’t because, the way Danson put it, he was an officer and his father was a well-respected officer.”

Defense lawyer Richard Sing told Wong that police immediately arrested Cappo and placed him on restricted duty. Sing said Cappo has since complied with all of the terms of his release on bail and with the no-contact restrictions of a temporary restraining order Cabus had filed nine days after the nightclub incident.

Cappo told Wong he wants to apologize for the damage and violence he caused Cabus and the man in the nightclub. He also said he recognizes the turmoil Cabus went through during their one-year relationship.

“I have come to realize how horrible it must have been for her and how I would feel if my sister or mother had to go through that. I don’t ever want to be in another toxic relationship,” Cappo said.

The Honolulu Police Department says Cappo resigned Aug. 5. By then he had already been informed that he would be fired.