HILO >> A deputy state attorney general Monday told jurors deciding Mayor Billy Kenoi’s future that Kenoi “lived above the law” when he charged personal and alcohol purchases to his county-issued purchasing card.
Following six days of testimony that spanned two weeks, Deputy Attorney General Kevin Takata told jurors in his closing arguments, “Apathy is the accomplice to political corruption. The verdict is yours. Do justice. Do equal justice.”
After Takata’s initial closing argument, Kenoi defense attorney Todd Eddins displayed the words “NOT GUILTY” on a courtroom screen periodically throughout his own closing argument.
Eddins told jurors that “the pattern and practice of county government here on this island is the mayor has broad discretion. … For the state to barge into town and tell the mayor how he can spend his County Council-approved entertainment budget and twist things, it’s just not right.”
The judge and attorneys for both the defense and prosecution are all based in Honolulu.
The jurors began their deliberations Monday afternoon following closing arguments, and Judge Dexter Del Rosario has scheduled court to reconvene at 8:30 a.m. today in Circuit Court.
Monday’s closing arguments grew intensely personal at times.
Takata mocked the defense’s position that Kenoi always intended to reimburse the county for personal expenses on his purchasing card, or pCard, which included frequent purchases of liquor and a 2011 wedding present for Kenoi’s nephew in the form of a stay at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel.
Takata noted that it sometimes took years for Kenoi to reimburse the county, usually only after annual media requests for his pCard spending.
Takata then turned to Kenoi and said, “The question is, When, Billy, when?”
“If the spending was legal, why lie about it?” Takata said. “You only have to lie when you have something to cover up, and that’s what happened here.”
Later Eddins said, “The state’s trying to paint Mayor Kenoi with brushes that smear and distort his true colors. … It’s outrageous. It’s deplorable. It’s shameless.”
“This is not Kazakhstan,” Eddins said. “This is not a banana republic.”
Eddins then turned and mocked Takata and said, “Why, Kevin, why?”
“Why did the state do this?” Eddins asked. “It’s just not right. Mayor Kenoi’s straight up. He told you what happened.”
Takata pounded at the timing of the reimbursements that Kenoi made, usually following annual media requests for his pCard spending.
In back-to-back expenditures in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., in June 2011, 802 days passed between the time Kenoi repaid the county after buying alcohol for what the mayor described as meetings with staff members for the U.S. Conference of Mayors and then Hawaii’s congressional delegation staff the following night.
“Eight hundred and two days!” Takata emphasized as his voice boomed through a wireless microphone. “Over two years! Two years! This stands out loud and clear. That’s theft.”
Later, in his own closing argument, Eddins said that Kenoi repaid the county, even in instances where Kenoi’s staff said it was unnecessary.
“The county was not out one penny,” Eddins said.
Since Kenoi repaid the expenses, Eddins maintained that Kenoi is not guilty of attempting to “permanently defraud” the county as he’s been charged.
5 counts at stake
Kenoi originally faced eight counts related to 15 transactions that he made on his pCard from 2011 to 2014.
Following the prosecution’s case, Del Rosario dismissed three counts related to tampering with government documents, leaving Kenoi to face four counts of theft — two of them Class C felonies and two of them misdemeanors. The charges also include one count of making a false statement under oath.
The false-swearing charge stems from a lunch at the Volcano House for the son and grandchildren of the head of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
“He (Kenoi) knew that they weren’t from the U.S. Conference of Mayors,” Takata said.
If convicted of a felony, Kenoi could lose his ability to practice law. He is currently on his second term as mayor and is prevented by term limits from running for a third consecutive term.
Eddins and his co-counsel, Richard Sing, have argued that Kenoi used his connections to regularly entertain people in government and private business — often in after-hours gatherings involving alcohol — to keep money flowing to Hawaii island, especially following the Great Recession when Hawaii County budgets were slashed in record numbers.
Eddins told jurors that the evidence and testimony by 20 witnesses — including former state Rep. Tommy Waters, Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho and celebrity chef Sam Choy — gave them “countless reasonable doubts to inform your decision. … If you have one reasonable doubt, the only proper verdict is not guilty.”
Eddins acknowledged that Hawaii County’s pCard policies were based on “an informal system, and the system should have been better on paybacks (reimbursements). That shows no intent. … There should have been a better system, and he’s (Kenoi’s) the first to admit that.”
Takata earlier told the jury, “Ask yourself, is alcohol necessary to establish and maintain relationships? Ask yourself, Did the mayor abuse his authority in buying alcohol? That’s what it came down to.”
Eddins suggested the attorney general’s office had a “puritanical, prissy” obsession with Kenoi’s purchases of alcohol, which are allowed under county rules.
“Alcohol’s permitted,” Eddins said.
While the prosecution “is trying to paint the mayor as some some sort of a boozy guy,” Eddins said Kenoi worked tirelessly “to make Hawaii island a wonderful place to live for everyone from keiki to kupuna.”
Eddins ended by telling jurors that Kenoi has “been wrongfully accused by the state government. … It’s an opportunity and privilege for you to right a wrong. It’s an opportunity and privilege for you to tell the state government it’s wrong.”
Eddins then touched his heart and said, “Restore a good man. I hand William P. Kenoi over to you.”
