WAILUKU (AP) — Four college students who had been awaiting trial after being arrested last year during a protest over the construction of a solar telescope on Maui have had most of their criminal charges dismissed.
The students now only face a single misdemeanor count each of disorderly conduct, which doesn’t require a jury trial. Second Circuit Judge Richard Bissen on Monday dismissed charges of failure to disperse and refusal to provide ingress or egress against all four defendants, The Maui News reported (http://bit.ly/1PqNuj3).
Bissen dropped the charges with prejudice, meaning they cannot be brought against the defendants again.
“It should be dismissed with prejudice,” Bissen said. “These folks have come to court several times.”
The students had been among 200 people who gathered July 31 to protest the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope being built at the Haleakala summit
Twenty people were arrested after some protesters chained themselves together and blocked the paths of trucks carrying parts for the telescope.
Defense attorney Hayden Aluli said the charges were dismissed against Cameron Ahia, Kristen Enriquez, Kahala Johnson and Jordon Takakura-Puha because the prosecution couldn’t prove police had ordered protesters to disperse before they were arrested.
The same two charges were dismissed Thursday for Samuel Kaeo, a University of Hawaii Maui College assistant professor, who had also been arrested at the protest.
“We’re glad they decided to drop it, definitely,” Takakura-Puha, 25, of Paia said after the hearing.
“It’s just unfortunate this is what we have to go through in order to protect cultural sites,” said Enriquez, 26, of Kihei.
Aluli, who represented 12 of the 20 people arrested during the protest, said six of his clients have been sentenced. Five were ordered to pay a $200 fine and placed on one year of unsupervised deferral after pleading no contest in District Court to failing to disperse, he said.