KAILUA-KONA — The wanted felon believed to be in flight from Kona Community Hospital was still in bed with an unknown medical condition, only a block away from the courtroom where he was to have his preliminary hearing on Wednesday.
But the court didn’t know that, thinking instead the suspect was on the loose.
Clayton Michael Sexton, 31, of San Diego, is charged with unlawful control of a propelled vehicle, third-degree promoting a dangerous drug, a felon in possession of a firearm, two counts of second-degree promoting a dangerous drug and two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia.
The idea that Sexton was gone was a focal point of his Wednesday hearing. District Judge Margaret Masunaga thought he had left the hospital after a second doctor had reevaluated Sexton and allowed him to leave, which countered a previous doctor’s request to keep Sexton in the hospital for five days. A story was reported using the testimony in court in Thursday’s West Hawaii Today edition.
Turns out, Sexton was still in medical care when the judge and lawyers talked about him being on the lam.
How the court got its information wrong wasn’t clear, as the judiciary wouldn’t speak to the issue on Thursday.
“We cannot discuss further details about this case,” said Tammy Mori, communications officer with the judiciary, citing the case being ongoing as the reason why.
But the two doctors who evaluated Sexton did not relay their information to anyone outside of the hospital, Judy Donovan, community relations officer for Kona Community Hospital, said on Thursday.
Testimony from the apparently slightly erroneous hearing shows that the misinformation could have come from when a deputy called the hospital and was told Sexton was not there, according to testimony. The Intake Service Center said he had not reported in as ordered, which led Masunaga to state he had broken the rules of his supervised release.
Assuming he had fled, deputy prosecuting attorney Sheri Lawson asked for a revocation of his supervised release.
This was granted by Masunaga, who also instituted a $250,000 bond for contempt of court.
Masunaga’s courtroom was in the former hospital, which is across the street from KCH.
Masunaga was appointed to the court on 2014. She was previously a deputy corporation counsel and replaced Judge Joseph Florendo, who retired that year.
Also arrested Saturday along with Sexton were Clayton Sexton’s father, Michael Sexton, 56, of San Diego, and Anthony James Edward, 29, also of San Diego, on charges of third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug. Both were released pending investigation on Sunday night.
