KAILUA-KONA —Prosecutors can’t release information about teenagers suspected of sexually assaulting and attacking a woman at Old Kona Airport Park a year ago, saying the case doesn’t meet the requirements needed by state law to make records public.
Access to information surrounding the reported sexual assault last September has been challenging due to the fact that the suspects are juveniles. While police confirmed forwarding the case to the prosecutor’s office at the end of March, it is still unknown if anyone has been charged.
The reported assault occurred on Sept. 3, 2016. At 8:35 p.m., police said, two boys allegedly approached a woman, punched and sexually assaulted her. Police added that the boys reportedly fled when confronted by an unidentified person.
Police arrested one suspect, a 15-year-old boy, one day later. He was later released into his parents’ custody, police said.
Police in February said they had identified the second boy, saying he was “brought in and interviewed.”
While the attack reportedly involved two juvenile suspects, police said in June that so far they’ve only been able to identify one “viable, prosecutable suspect.”
Art Souza, Hawaii Department of Education superintendent of the Honokaa-Kealakehe-Kohala-Konawaena complex area, said one of the boys was a Kealakehe High School student at the time of the incident.
County Prosecutor Mitch Roth said generally speaking, a juvenile case becomes open to the public if it’s waived to circuit court where the suspect is charged as an adult.
“As far as what we can disclose, we have to follow the law,” Roth said. “It’s not that we don’t want to give this information out. We don’t want to jeopardize cases or violate our own rules.”
There is a state law that makes proceedings and records in juvenile cases open if they meet specific requirements. According to statute 571-84.6, a minor age 14 or older, has to have been adjudicated for murder in the first or second degree, attempted murder in the first degree, a class A felony, or caused serious bodily injury to or death of a victim.
The statute allows records to be public if a minor 16 years old or older has been taken into custody for committing murder in the first or second degree, attempted murder in the first degree or caused serious bodily injury to or death of victim.
The law also allows the release of records if the minor has prior felony adjudications.
While the victim in the Old Airport sexual assault didn’t suffer fatal injuries, the injuries were also not classified as “serious.”
Hawaii Police Maj. Robert Wagner said the victim’s injury was classified by the doctor as “substantial bodily injury,” which is less than “serious” bodily injury.
While prosecutors are bound by what the statute states, Roth said, legislators have the ability to make some of these rules.
“They can draw these lines on when information is released to the public,” he said.
Rep. Cindy Evans, D-North Kona, North Kohala and South Kohala, said if the community thinks there is a bad policy, she wants to know.
“We need to hear from them,” she said.