KEALAKEKUA AND KAILUA-KONA — A man considered a suspect in the summer wild fires, a witness to the courthouse arson and wanted for escape appeared in two different courts on Wednesday.
But not in regards to the string of bush fires.
Daniel “Duke” Abraham, 35, was identified in court testimony as a suspect for some of the blazes that broke out across West Hawaii earlier this year, but police have said that the investigation is ongoing and he was taken into custody on the escape charge.
For that charge, Abraham appeared in District Court Judge Margaret Masunaga’a court and waived his preliminary hearing. He will appear in Circuit Judge Melvin Fujino’s court at 11:30 a.m. Aug. 2 for his arraignment and plea.
Abraham was serving a sentence on charges of first-degree assault, kidnapping and illegal place to keep a firearm, with a sentence set to run until 2020. He had a parole hearing scheduled in June.
Abraham was on furlough and allegedly failed to return to the Hale Nani Reintegration Center on Feb. 19.
The second case Abraham appeared in court for was not Abraham’s, rather it was for the case of Kainoa Lindo, who allegedly splashed accelerant on the Big Island Drug Court building and ignited it March 3. During testimony in previous hearings, Abraham was listed as being present before the fire began. He is not charged in the case.
Lindo’s defense attorney, Robert Kim, filed a warrant calling Abraham a material witness in the case. These allow the court to hold someone in custody in lieu of bond if there is concern about them not showing up for trial.
Second Circuit Court Judge Rhonda Loo flew in from Maui for the second hearing, held at 2:30 p.m. She was assigned by Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald to the case.
During the hearing, Loo asked if the Big Island judges had recused themselves from the case. Deputy prosecuting attorney Sheri Lawson said the recusals were never filed, if they were made. Kim, agreed and said he had reviewed the file and no such recusals were filed.
He added that may be in part because several of the judges were on the witness list.
Loo said she’d determine what happened.
“Someone skipped a step along the line and I will make sure that’s taken care of,” she said.
He then said that, since Abraham was in custody as a result of the escape charge, the material witness order was not needed.