KAILUA-KONA — A jury this week acquitted a Kailua-Kona man charged with sexually assaulting a woman last April in Kailua Village.
After three days of trial, jurors found James Tan not guilty on all charges brought against him. The jury delivered its verdict Thursday afternoon after two hours of deliberation.
“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Chase Murray said Friday. “We really believed in this case. A jury expects to see hard evidence and you just don’t have that in acquaintance sexual assault cases.”
Tan’s counsel, Deputy Public Defender Ann Datta, also provided a statement after the jury verdict.
“I appreciate the hard work of the jury in listening to testimony and looking at the evidence presented and applying the law in this case,” she said Friday.
Tan was indicted by grand jury on Dec. 4, 2017, on two counts first-degree sexual assault, kidnapping and first-degree unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle. A warrant for his arrest was issued a few weeks later. In January, he turned himself in and was released on $10,000 bail.
The charges stemmed from an incident that reportedly occurred on April 16, 2017, at Coconut Grove Marketplace. According to Hawaii Police, Tan ran into the alleged victim while downtown on April 15. The two were acquaintances.
Police say the assault occurred in the morning the next day outside a public establishment on Alii Drive. Part of the assault also happened inside the vehicle the victim was driving that night.
Murray said the case hinged on consent, adding “#MeToo” issues came up in jury selection.
“It’s pretty reflective to what’s going on in a broad realm,” Murray said of the case.
The prosecutor added there are still a lot of expectations of what a sex assault victim looks like and how they react.
“I don’t think that’s something we should generalize,” he said.
Murray said he knew the case was going to be tough going into it.
“I don’t regret how we handled it. I’m proud of how we handled it,” he said.
Despite the end result, Murray said, he thought the jury did a good job.
“I could tell they took it seriously,” he said. “I have no complaints about jury.”