Judge’s decision does not protect the public
We have judges and the justice system to protect the public. We need protection both from violent people with guns, as well as from judges who cannot fulfill their responsibilities to protect the public. If judges cannot properly serve the public, then they are part of our problem by encouraging such criminal behavior.
Judge Ronald Ibarra just acquitted Raymond Lee Robinson and turned his back on protecting the public. On April 5, Mr. Robinson was an active shooter in Kailua Village — right next to King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel — who in “a rampage … fired 28 rounds from a rifle and two handguns.” There are up to 1,000 people in the rooms of that hotel, plus hundreds of employees and thousands more people in the immediately surrounding area. In addition, there were “police and witness accounts of him speeding into the resort parking lot, then swinging his Camaro sideways, stopping and opening fire.” This shooting at the hotel followed a shooting at his apartment, where police recovered a 9 mm pistol and found gunshots throughout his dwelling. Along with four guns, Mr. Robinson also had mental, alcohol and drug problems.
With the evidence of the shootings, acquittal is not an option. He broke the law. How can he be acquitted?
The pattern of violence by individuals on our island with mental, drug and alcohol problems, followed by ridiculously minimal consequences, is far too common.
Judge Ibarra, your decision only encourages others to go on similar rampages, and it does not protect the public. Public protection must come first.
Sue Garrod
Kailua-Kona