The Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals has ordered a new trial for three people convicted of brutally beating a hotel security guard in 2018.
The three-judge panel handed down its opinion Friday, ruling the Third Circuit Court abused discretion in admitting and presenting to the jury video of John Kanui receiving treatment at a rehabilitation hospital in Colorado three months after the Sept. 17, 2018, incident at the Kona Seaside Hotel.
Following five days of trial, jurors on June 25, 2019, convicted Wesley Samoa and Natisha Tautalatasi each of attempted second-degree murder and Lama Lauvao of the lesser-included offense of first-degree assault. Samoa and Tautalatasi were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole while Lauvao was ordered to serve 10 years behind bars on Sept. 13, 2019.
The trio subsequently filed appeals, which were consolidated into a single case outlining 18 points of error. The Intermediate Court of Appeals ruled on just four of the 18 points raised by the defendants, stating that the remaining points were not reached since a new trial was ordered.
The appeals court in its review found the lower court in allowing the video of Kanui because prior to it being played during trial, jurors had already heard testimony from medical experts regarding the “degree, nature, prognosis, and permanence of Kanui’s injuries,” in addition to statements from Kanui’s daughter on her father’s condition when she visited him in the months after the incident.
With that “alternative proof,” the need for showing the video was “slight,” the appellate court ruled, agreeing with the defendants that the court violated Hawaii Rules of Evidence 403. The rule states, in part, that evidence, while relative to the case, may be excluded if its value is outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion or misleading the jury, or is needless presentation of cumulative evidence.
“Balanced against the marginal probative value of the Rehabilitation Video, the potential of unfair prejudice caused by the unnecessary, cumulative admission of the video was substantial. In our view, the graphic nature of Kanui’s disability depicted in the video would create an ‘undue tendency to suggest decision on an improper basis’ due to the emotional and sympathetic response the video would evoke in an average viewer,” the intermediate court of appeals ruling’s discussion reads. “Thus we conclude that the Circuit Court abused its discretion by allowing the state to admit the Rehabilitation Video; and given the impactful nature of the video, we cannot conclude that this error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The appellate court also found the lower court did not err in denying motions to sever the cases and that there was sufficient evidence to support the challenged convictions of Lauvao and Samoa.
The case has been remanded back to the Circuit Court for a new trial. No date had been set as of press-time Monday.
The now-overturned convictions stem from an incident that occurred early Sept. 17, 2018, when Samoa, Tautalatasi and Lauvao got into an altercation with Kanui while in the parking lot of the hotel.
Hotel video surveillance of the incident showed Samoa, Tautalatasi and Lauvao along with a fourth person, later identified as Mahealani Kanehailua, chatting outside the hotel when Kanui, a security guard, pulls up in a golf cart. After what appeared to be an exchange of words, the video shows the three suspects pull the guard out of the cart and repeatedly kick and punch him in the head, back and stomach.
Kanehailua, who was indicted for attempted first-degree hindering prosecution in connection with the September 2018 incident, was acquitted of the charge following a bench trial.
Kanui, who suffered a cervical spine fracture, remained paralyzed in a care facility on the mainland until his death in September 2020.