Elementary school custodian James Holt passed a lie detector test declaring his innocence, his lawyer said Friday after a state judge granted the prosecutor’s request to dismiss a sexual charge against Holt.
"We are thankful to the prosecutors that they were able to review the investigation based on new evidence that we’d given them," said defense lawyer Victor Bakke.
Honolulu District Judge Linda Luke dismissed the charge but gave the prosecutor 60 days to refile it after Deputy Prosecutor Kyle Dowd told her the investigation against Holt is ongoing. If the state does not refile the case within the 60 days, it will forever lose the opportunity to do so.
Luke said because of a new law that removed the statute of limitations for certain sexual offenses, it would be unfair to Holt to have the charge hanging over him for the rest of his life.
She released the $50,000 bond that a bail bond company posted for Holt’s release from custody. But Holt does not get back the $5,000 he paid the company for the bond.
Honolulu police arrested Holt at Kanoelani Elementary School on Aug. 27 on suspicion of first-degree sexual assault involving a 5-year-old boy. He was later charged with third-degree sexual assault.
Bakke said that when police responded to the report, rather than have the student identify his alleged attacker from a lineup, the officer took the boy up to Holt and asked the boy whether Holt was his attacker.
Holt also suggested that the boy told police he was attacked at a time he could account for his whereabouts.
"(The officer) could have asked the right question as far as when did it happen. He didn’t ask that question before he arrested me," Holt said.
Dowd didn’t give the court a statement of facts explaining his reason for requesting the dismissal.
A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said, however, that one reason is that the parents of the boy don’t want to pursue the case and have stopped cooperating.
Holt, 54, said getting charged with sexually assaulting a child has damaged his reputation and continues to affect him emotionally and physically.
"To be charged with something like this is devastating," Holt said.
He said he doesn’t blame the boy for what happened, and Bakke said Holt’s concern from the beginning is that if the boy was attacked, his attacker is still out there.
Holt said he is suspended from his job without pay pending the resolution of the case and cannot go to any school.
The Department of Education said Holt is a casual, at-will employee who has worked for the department since 2000.
