Court dates set for UH football players after domestic dispute
COURTESY HONOLULU POLICE DEPARTMENT
Kennedy Tulimasealii, left, and Ka‘aumoana Gifford
University of Hawaii football player Kennedy Tulimasealii has demanded a Circuit Court jury trial and will enter a plea next month on charges of assaulting his ex-girlfriend during an argument in a McCully apartment two months ago.
Circuit Court Judge Richard Perkins on Monday granted a continuance until June 27 as requested by Michael Green, Tulimasealii’s attorney.
Tulimasealii, 21, is free after posting bail of $1,000 after he was arrested April 12 and charged with two counts of third-degree assault, harassment and resisting arrest.
On May 10, District Court Judge Lono J. Lee granted a request by Green that a jury trial be held, and transferred the case to Circuit Court.
The assault and resisting arrest charges are misdemeanors — punishable by a maximum jail term of one year and a $2,000 fine. Harassment is a petty misdemeanor — the least serious type of criminal offense in Hawaii — and punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a fine up to $1,000.
The charges stem from an April 12 incident involving Tulimasealii and his 20-year-old ex-girlfriend at a McCully Street apartment. The victim told police she was scratched during a fight with Tulimasealii. UH football player Ka‘aumoana Gifford, 20, also was at the apartment and was charged with resisting arrest and harassment.
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Tulimasealii also is scheduled to appear at a separate District Court preliminary hearing at 1:30 p.m. Thursday on a separate criminal property damage charge stemming from the same April 12 incident.
Gifford’s attorney, Paul Cunney, has already successfully petitioned to consolidate the resisting arrest and harassment charges with a separate charge in which Gifford is accused of leaving the scene of a car accident in March. His case is scheduled to be heard June 3 in District Court.
Cunney has said Gifford was a “Good Samaritan” when he was accused of interfering with Tulimasealii’s arrest. Police had used pepper spray to subdue Tulimasealii, who was not wearing clothes when he ran out of the McCully complex, Cunney said.
Cunney is seeking a deferred plea in which Gifford would plead no contest, but his record would be expunged if he remains trouble-free for a specific length of time.
As for the traffic incident, Cunney said, Gifford left the scene of a fender-bender when he could not reach a financial settlement with the other driver.
Tulimasealii and Gifford have been on indefinite suspension from team-related activities since their April 12 arrests. They remain on scholarship.
Both UH players are from Waianae.
36 responses to “Court dates set for UH football players after domestic dispute”
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Geez. Such a HUGE headline for a simple court date announcement for an obvious domestic problem child? SA must think we are all dolts.
It is so regrettable that a horrible football entertainment program should continue to embarrass the UH. We students wish that expensive, disastrous program would just leave our camp;us. We are an academic institution. Please support academics!
So now you’re claiming to be the spokesperson for all UH students???
Only when it concerns scuttlebutt.
Allie, list the top academic programs in the nation-the common thread– all have very extensive athletic programs and departments ( from Harvard to Yale, from Princeton to MIT, U OF Chicago to Northwestern to Stanford). Further, if you knew anything really about higher education, you would know that most schools that abandon athletic programs see their applications and admissions drop precipitously. So, shut the heck up with with uneducated and unsophisticated musings….
U of Chicago gave up football many years ago. Without a football program, we would still thrive as the UH could easily attract thousands of foreign students if it so chose. It does not do so now due to its obligation to serve qualified local students first. And yes, I speak for most UH students. Please read our campus newspaper and blogs.
Is that so, you simp??? So, what is this???http://athletics.uchicago.edu/sports/fball/index
Football was reinstated by the popular vote of both alum, students and faculty. Gosh, you might be the most ignorant person alive, espousing views that are easily checked and verified –and in your specific case, entirely wrong!!!
The purpose of a state funded insitutional is to educate state residents, not a gateway for foreign students. Moreover, the top foreign students already make heavy application to Ivy plus schools, and premier flagship institutions like CAL and UCLA, thus meaning we would be attracting 3rd or 4th tier students. Again, a very unresearched and uneducated remark–at least you are remarkably consistent.
I see confronted with facts, you shirk to the back of the room. You have a sloth of intellectual and original thought as you disappear as soon as truth enters the equation–that is the road to being a pillock.
wow burn again.
Yup, Allie likes her bbq papa’a. She talks about things she knows nothing about, when she could easily research what actual facts and data say….go back under the bridge fafa troll.
You’ve been a so called student for a long time and so ridiculous in your off the wall comments and prejudices.
News alert–Allie, aka the fafa troll, is neither of the following: a female, native or a current student at UH. Not to worry, he will soon out be outed with his real name….
Whut! Not a Mandan princess pizza server majoring in Pre-k basket weaving?? Well, there goes faith in humanity.
Ahh, just clam up!
Annie said, We are an academic camp; us. Correction camp ;@$$.
Only because their athletes. You probably wouldn’t hear much if they were not athletes.
……They get what they deserve.
how can you pass judgment when the trial isn’t until next month?
Easy…..I just typed my opinion in comment box.
These guys should at least be sentenced to community service for bad haircuts.
Too much emphasis on football at UH and the moke thugs that contribute to the program. How about mentioning academic achievements at UH instead of placating the failed football jock supporters? Students go to the UH primarily to become educated so they can become self supporting, not ending up and graduating from OCCC.
yup….the UH is a great place that rarely gets credit for all that it contributes to Hawaii and America. It is so sad that our entertainment programs driven by off-campus interests should obscure the real value of the University.
Where did you go to college or grad school or even professional school? Yup,, that’s what I thought, the better to place your efforts and limited resources to make an attempt to complete middle school.
FYI, I agree UH is a very good academically. But, there is no sports venue in this State for the masses to rally around. Its the only game in town and it gives all of us a chance to be proud of, or sad with. Whatever sport you like, that pretty much have one. Go UH Athletics!
There are some very strong programs, departments, and individual faculty at UHM. (My first two degrees are from UC Berkeley the others from UHM.) I really don’t like American football very much and resent being coerced into paying $50/semester for it. But…
I think I’m beginning to change my mind about the value of a solid football program. Bdpapa, above, points out that UH is really the only local source for this type of large scale sports entertainment in Hawaii. (though I should include volleyball and basketball as well) The majority of people who attend the games are not students but members of the Community at large. It is this community upon which the entire University is dependent for support. Perhaps a good sports program can generate the kind of pride and willingness to participate in our state that can translate to support and pride in the rest of the university, its academic, cultural and artistic, research, and other programs.
Sorry if I did communicate this properly, but I was speaking of all UH sports.
WOW !
Of course. I was using the big grossers purely as an example. I was a collegiate swimmer and an Ironman competitor after. My first love is individual sports. I thought however, that your point was very well taken. The health and success of UHM is really dependent on the support of the entire community and an intercollegiate athletic program may be the portal to bring a sense of belonging to the rest of our community.
Well said!
Why mention they are both from Waianae? Is this an attempt to imply that the neighborhood produces troublemakers despite good people also being there?
I agree, but at least they are in College!
Try to search for 1st rounder millionaire DeForest BUCKNER and you’ll get Punahou instead of Waianae. Lol.
News outlets always report a subjects hometown in an article.
Waianae, figures.
Nah nah nah only joking. 🙂
they learned their lesson already. no harm, no foul. let them go with community service.