HONOLULU — The Hawaii Supreme Court has overturned a man’s kidnapping conviction, ruling he didn’t get a fair trial.
The high court ruled this week that Toi Nofoa didn’t receive a fair trial because jurors were told his ex-girlfriend couldn’t provide live testimony because she was dead.
Nofoa was acquitted in 2011 in the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Royal Kaukani. She was shot in 2009, a few days before she was going to testify against him for allegedly kidnapping and threatening her.
In 2012, a jury found Nofoa guilty of abducting Kaukani and forcing her into a vehicle at gunpoint in 2008.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports the judge in the kidnapping trial allowed jurors to hear Kaukani’s recorded testimony.
The case goes back to Circuit Court for a new trial.