A police officer testified Monday one of the victims of a gambling game robbery accused a man who reportedly threw his truck keys at one of the robbers of being part of the home invasion.
Officer Davy Kamalii testified in the trial of John Krause of Kurtistown. Krause is charged with robbery, burglary and terroristic threatening for his alleged role in robbing money from participants of dice and card games in the early morning of May 28, 2013, at a Hawaiian Paradise Park home.
Victims told police there were six masked armed robbers, but Krause is the only individual charged in the case.
Kamalii said while he was interviewing one of the victims, Brandon Parks, Parks yelled at one of the other reported gamblers, Jarret Kaneshiro, who threw his truck keys at one of the robbers. That robber allegedly tried to steal the car of one of the other gamblers.
According to Kamalii, Parks yelled at Kaneshiro words to the effect that Kaneshiro had helped to set up the robbery.
Kaneshiro, a convicted felon, is a friend of Krause and brought Krause to the house earlier in the evening. Both left the game earlier in the evening and Kaneshiro returned without Krause, according to prosecutors.
Kamalii said Parks referred to one of the masked robbers as “the tall guy.” Prosecutors contend the man was Krause, and the homeowner, Marlon Eugenio, told police he recognized Krause by his voice from a brief conversation during the evening.
According to Kamalii, Parks told him that Krause, whom Parks didn’t know, had been acting strangely at the craps table earlier in the night.
“He just told me that … he seemed like he was casing the residence,” Kamalii said.
“Did Brandon Parks tell you that the tall male was John Krause?” Kanani Laubach, Krause’s court-appointed attorney, asked Kamalii.
“No, he did not,” the officer replied.
Krause chose not to testify Monday, and Laubach called only two defense witnesses before resting Krause’s case. The other was Karen Rosa, Krause’s longtime girlfriend, who testified she knew Krause was going to a dice game with Kaneshiro, but didn’t know about the robbery until reading newspaper accounts of it after Krause was arrested in July 2013.
Jury instructions and closing arguments in the trial are expected today in Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara’s courtroom.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.