Maui judge recuses himself in deacon sex abuse case
Wailuku, Maui —
Because of his long professional association with the defense attorney, Maui Circuit Judge Joel August today recused himself from the case of a Catholic deacon charged with 62 sexual assault crimes against a boy.
August and Philip Lowenthal, one of the state's pre-eminent criminal defense attorneys, shared a Wailuku law practice for more than 20 years, until August was selected for the bench in 2002.
The sexual assault case of James "Ron" Gonsalves, deacon at St. Ann Church in Waihe'e, was the first time Lowenthal had come before his former law partner in court.
August announced he was stepping out of the case during a bail hearing for Gonsalves, who remains in custody at the Maui Community Correctional Center with bail set at $790,000. The matter was transferred to Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto, who will preside over the bail hearing Monday.
A Maui grand jury indictment charged Gonsalves with 30 counts of first-degree sexual assault and 32 counts of third-degree sexual assault for incidents that allegedly occurred from June 2002 to June 2005, when the boy was 12 to 15 years old. Some of the alleged assaults were reported to have occurred at the church.
Read the article at The Honolulu Advertiser Dated July 29, 2005
Search the web for this article
Because of his long professional association with the defense attorney, Maui Circuit Judge Joel August today recused himself from the case of a Catholic deacon charged with 62 sexual assault crimes against a boy.
August and Philip Lowenthal, one of the state's pre-eminent criminal defense attorneys, shared a Wailuku law practice for more than 20 years, until August was selected for the bench in 2002.
The sexual assault case of James "Ron" Gonsalves, deacon at St. Ann Church in Waihe'e, was the first time Lowenthal had come before his former law partner in court.
August announced he was stepping out of the case during a bail hearing for Gonsalves, who remains in custody at the Maui Community Correctional Center with bail set at $790,000. The matter was transferred to Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto, who will preside over the bail hearing Monday.
A Maui grand jury indictment charged Gonsalves with 30 counts of first-degree sexual assault and 32 counts of third-degree sexual assault for incidents that allegedly occurred from June 2002 to June 2005, when the boy was 12 to 15 years old. Some of the alleged assaults were reported to have occurred at the church.
Read the article at The Honolulu Advertiser Dated July 29, 2005
posted by God Almighty Himself at 4:11 AM
Translate this post:
Spanish | Italian | French | German | Portuguese | Chinese | Korean | Japanese
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home