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  1. #1
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    Exclamation Charges To Be Dropped If My Website Is Removed

    Kaua'i man makes case for innocence on the Internet

    http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar...html/?print=on

    By Jan TenBruggencate
    Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau

    LIHU'E, Kaua'i — Kaua'i police are trying to figure out how a man facing criminal charges obtained access to internal police computer data, which he is posting on the Web.

    Krstafer Pinkerton is making his case — including the posting of screen shots from police computers — on his personal Web site.

    Pinkerton says he is a computer and network analyst who has done work with law enforcement, financial institutions and nonprofit groups. He also has been arrested three times in recent months, and charged with impersonating a police officer, with terroristic threatening and drunken driving, among other charges.

    His maintains he has been targeted by a few police officers who have a grudge against him personally, but that he is a supporter of law enforcement and has friends within the police department. He outlines his side of the issue at www.kpinkerton.com.

    In the most recent turn of events, the county prosecuting attorney's office, after conferring with Pinkerton's then-attorney, William Harrison, agreed to drop all charges if Pinkerton would agree to several conditions — including leaving town, taking down the Web site, revealing how he acquired images from police computers, and writing letters of apology to three police officers.

    Pinkerton refused, and the offer expired May 25.

    "That's why my lawyer is no longer representing me. He told me to take the deal," Pinkerton said.

    Prosecutor Craig De Costa said he intends to prosecute Pinkerton on the charges that have been brought against him.

    Harrison said he could not discuss some issues in the case, but said that he participated in negotiating the plea offer that Pinkerton rejected. De Costa said the plea agreement was "mutually composed" by Harrison and De Costa's staff, and while he would not directly address its specific requirements, he suggested that some provisions may have been offers by Pinkerton's side rather than demands of the prosecutor.

    "We would never ask someone to leave town. However, if their attorney tells us they intend to leave town, that might make its way into an agreement," De Costa said.

    Pinkerton said he might have suggested that he would be willing to leave the island to have the charges dropped. Harrison said he made the offer because Pinkerton told him he would be willing to leave the island to get the charges dismissed.

    Kaua'i attorneys not involved in the case say such a plea deal seems odd to them.

    "I've never seen a plea offer before that required the removal of a Web page, or that required someone to leave the island," said attorney Daniel Hempey.

    Former prosecuting attorney Ryan Jimenez said he never made such requirements a part of plea agreements when he was in office.

    "That seems very unusual to me," Jimenez said.

    But Harrison said he has participated in such agreements in Hawai'i before, deals in which "someone agreed to leave the community in which the offense took place."

    De Costa said his concerns about the Web site involve possibly revealing private information about individuals.

    He added that the site displays the contents of screens of police computers. It is not clear to authorities whether Pinkerton was given screen snapshots by someone inside the department, or he was able to break into the police records management system electronically. In either case, it worries law enforcement.

    "I'm concerned if he did gain access to RMS, how he did it, and whether it is a security breach," De Costa said.

    Acting police Chief Clay Arinaga said police are conducting their own investigation.

    "We have some concerns about some of the information he had access to," Arinaga said. "Some of that is not available to the public."

    Pinkerton said he was given the screen snapshots by officers he will not identify.

    "A couple of police officers came to me and said, 'Take these.' You can't hack into that system. It's a closed network. At least, I don't have the capability of getting into it," he said.

    As for the Web site, Pinkerton says he wants the charges dropped, an apology from the county and "a fair settlement."

    "This (Web site) is going to continue to sit there if they continue to maliciously prosecute me," he said.

    Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.

    ALSO ANOTHER STORY:
    Defendant Says He Won't Go
    John Tompkins

    john.tompkins@dcrhouston.com
    The message from a prosecutor to a defendant: shut up and leave town.
    A Hawaiian prosecutor asked Kristafer Pinkerton in a plea agreement to shut down his Web site accusing the local police of brutality and then to leave the island of Kauai which he’s lived on for 18 years.

    The site, www.kpinkerton.com, alleges that Kauai police physically assaulted Pinkerton while he was in their custody on an impersonating a police officer charge.

    Since the original incident Pinkerton has also been charged with terroristic threat to an officer, two counts of assault and intimidating a witness.
    The plea agreement, which Pinkerton said he would not agree to, also asked him to drop all civil suits that he has filed against the county.

    The prosecutor in the case, Marc Guyot, would not comment as to why he asked Pinkerton to take down his site citing the case was ongoing.
    Pinkerton said his attorney, William Harrison, had asked him to sign the agreement but Pinkerton refused. He also fired Harrison and has now decided to defend himself.

    “It’s very unconstitutional,” Pinkerton said of the agreement. “That’s my First Amendment right to free speech.”

    Pinkerton said he would not plea at all and would rather go to prison than admit wrongdoing or give up his allegations that the Kauai police are abusive.

    “I’d rather go to jail for 10 years,” he said. “I will not back down to bad cops.”

    James Alfini, First Amendment expert and dean of the South Texas College of Law said though the prosecution is not forcing Pinkerton to take down his site, it is overstepping its bounds of authority.

    “It’s banishment,” Alfini said. “The point is to get him out of their hair which suggests that he may have something on them.”

    A lot of criminal defendants often accuse police of brutality while in custody. But Alfini said the prosecutor’s requests for Pinkerton to leave the island, take down his site and drop civil suits against the city do give his case a good amount of credence.

    He added that the prosecution, with this proposed agreement is looking to take care of their interests rather than the interests of the defendant, which should be the focus of any plea deal.

    “I don’t see subsidiary restorative or rehabilitative aspect of it,” Alfini said. “The sum total of what they are doing is asking the defendant to give up some rights. I think this is improper.”

    There may be no legal precedent about the legality of the prosecution’s request, Alfini said. The fact that Pinkerton’s Web site is both a personal journal and a medium makes the case somewhat difficult.

    “This is a whole new era,” he said. “It gives people the opportunity to put out their message like they never have before.”

    Some other things the prosecution asked Pinkterton to do in the rejected plea agreement:

    - Pinkerton would have to waive all statute of limitation rights n Pinkerton would have to disclose how he received a screen shot of the Kauai Police Department’s internal computer system

    - Pinkerton would have to write apologies to three of KPD’s officers.
    - If Pinkerton returned to the island after signing the agreement, the charges would be reinstated.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: 5 Misdemeanors & 4 felonies dropped if website is removed, no lawsuits filed

    Is this out on paper back yet? It would take me weeks to read this.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: 5 Misdemeanors & 4 felonies dropped if website is removed, no lawsuits filed

    Another perspective, a bit shorter to read, is here.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Misdemeanors and felonies to be dropped if website is removed, no lawsuits filed

    These are the types of problems our island police and prosecutors face on a daily basis:Turmoil grips Kauai police; Low morale and divisiveness prompt an unprecedented Council inquiry.

    Source: http://starbulletin.com/2005/12/04/news/story02.html

    By Tom Finnegan
    tfinnegan@starbulletin.com

    LIHUE » The Kauai County Council is investigating the Garden Isle's police department, Chief K.C. Lum, and the Kauai Police Commission, in an unprecedented move that Lum supporters call politically motivated retaliation.

    The council voted unanimously Thursday to authorize the investigation, citing low morale, numerous civilian complaints, possible lawsuits, budget problems and more. It is the first time the council has used their investigative powers, which are allowed under the Kauai County Charter.

    The council gave themselves the right to subpoena witnesses, hire staff, and hold hearings, both in public and private, to investigate reported problems of the Garden Isle's police force, which has 128 officers.

    According to the council's resolution, the investigation would also delve into personnel matters, specifically as they involve federal funding.

    Council members and the chairman of the police union testified that Lum is to blame for horrible morale, an increase in civilian complaints and union grievances, as well as a budget overrun of more than $300,000 last year. They criticized the police commission for a lack of oversight of the chief and for poor response to civilian complaints and grievances.

    The investigation is something the chief and the commission have refused to do, despite repeated requests and funding for an appraisal, they said.

    Lum would not comment on the council's action.

    Sources inside the department who support the chief said the problems within KPD boil down to a power struggle between Lum and Assistant Chief Clayton Arinaga, who was put on administrative leave last week.

    Lum supporters, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, said Arinaga, as well as other ranking officers within the department and councilmembers, have done everything in their power to make the chief look bad and to circumvent his power since Lum became chief in October 2004.

    The reasons for Arinaga's suspension have not been made public, but in response to questions about it, Lum put out a press release stating that "the department will not tolerate misconduct by our department employees, and will take appropriate action when warranted."

    "This investigation (of Assistant Chief Clayton Arinaga) is for an incident that happened five years ago. Is it, maybe, retaliation?"
    Bill "Kaipo" Asing
    Kauai Council chairman


    Council Chairman Bill "Kaipo" Asing said the suspension of Arinaga was politically motivated.
    "This investigation is for an incident that happened five years ago," Asing said. "Is it, maybe, retaliation?"

    Lum supporters counter that the council investigation is retaliation for the suspension of Arinaga.

    The polarization between supporters of Lum and Arinaga is so complete that officers are beginning to fear for their own safety from each other, councilmembers said.

    "Officers in blue are more afraid of other officers in blue than the ice addict in the street," said Councilwoman Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho. "It jeopardizes ... the community as well."

    Bryson Ponce, chairman of the Kauai branch of the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, told the council, "I could fill the room with 90 cops that are unhappy.

    "Over the past year, I've seen morale drop to rock bottom."

    Ponce said the police commission, a volunteer board created to provide direct oversight to the chief and investigate civilian complaints, "is a joke. There are problems and they know it."

    The union has repeatedly brought up grievances to the commission, only to be ignored, Ponce continued.

    "We fully support this investigation into the police department," Ponce said, adding that Lum and the commission "haven't been acting with the best interests of our membership."

    Police Commission Chairman Michael Ching refused to comment.

    Councilmembers also discussed their frustration with being ignored by both the commission and the chief. They said they have repeatedly asked for information from the chief, only to be ignored.

    "Without the investigation, we'll deteriorate to the point where (KPD) won't function," said Councilman Mel Rapozo. "No one seems to care enough to do something."

    END OF ARTICLE

    Now I have the liberty and freedom to say this in response to Councilman Mel Rapozo's statement above and which has been posted on my website now for months:

    With all this incriminating evidence I have gathered and composed upon my personal website, your fellow councilmembers have yet to diligently act on these FACTS. These facts have been put in the public domain in order to assist you in finding conclusive evidence of police misconduct, perjury, and sever civil rights violations.

    Did I loose your support when I posted Councilmember Kaneshiro audio recording on my website in which he indicates that he really doesn’t care about evidence against crooked Kauai Police Officers?

    I did notice that his name was not mentioned in the above article.

    My complaint letters to the former Kauai Police Chief K.C. Lum went ignored by himself, the police commission, the Mayor, and now it appears the County Council of Kauai.

    Were you looking for evidence to expose the corruption that lies within the department or looking to suppress evidence of police corruption?

    What are you accomplishing by allowing Kauai Police Officers the ability to retaliate against civilian complaints?

    Kauai County Mayor and his Administration have displayed negligence for these criminal acts to be committed by Kauai Police Officers and to be ignored and denied even after reviewing the audio files and internal screen captures which has proven to negate my guilt and be justified reason in dropping all charges against me.

    Mahalo for the added mental trauma this has caused me and my family. I didn’t ask for this gift you have imparted upon my family, but thank you just the same...

    Mahalo for negligence beyond comprehension,

    Mahalo for stealing my rights, my money, my property, my career, my livelihood and my happiness.

    Since the folks within the County Council of Kauai are aware of these atrocities, you choose to do nothing and since you are an intelligent individual with auditory functions and can make logical choices, you and your staff at the County Council have allowed justice to be ignored and denied, these acts of negligence on your behalf make your just as guilty as these police officers and prosecutors caught up in this conspiracy to keep suppressing my rights and suppressing evidence, but of course this is ONLY MY FEVERNT OPINION.

  5. #5
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    Post Defendant Free Due To Prosecutorial Misconduct, Newspaper Reports Technical Mistakes

    Kauai, Hawaii: Kauai Prosecutor Marc E. Guyot interferes with a court order but reporter Amanda Gregg misleads readers and now people think I was set free due to a technicality but the real cause for my cases being dismissed with prejudice is prosecutorial misconduct from his interference with a court order.

    After 2 years of malicious prosecution, I have been set free, the many false charges against me "dismissed with prejudice" from two separate cases, in two separate courts from a prosecutors single act of criminal contempt as the Judge is quoted saying: "Given the circumstances which contributed to the delay by the prosecutor's office — the delay in submitting the order for court but moreso the delays caused by interference of a court order — the court's granting the dismissal with prejudice, Mr. Pinkerton, you are hereby discharged, these charges cannot be brought against you again" said. Circuit Court Judge Kathleen N.A. Watanabe


    To get a better understanding of the intentional misleading story by reporter Amanda Gregg, read the original article here: http://www.kauaiworld.com/articles/2...ews/news03.txt and read her version with the facts that were omitted can be found by scrolling down the page here: http://www.kpinkerton.com

    What is unreal is the amount of information Amanda Gregg has concerning my cases as my website has many facts concerning my cases and even YouTube videos of the court proceedings.

    You see, Kauai is small and I am one of the guys "in the know" because of my role as a Computer and Network Analyst and reporter Amanda Gregg knows this and has asked me on several occasions’ information regarding other people’s court battles. I have confided many factual details regarding cases she has asked me of and she continues to write half truths and biased opinions of how she wants those stories told including mine. I informed here on one occasion that her reporting methods really suck and she needs to write truthfully or find a job in a different field. Hence, the story she wrote was done with malice when she in fact knew my cases were won due to prosecutorial misconduct.

    Even our Council members are upset in the way she reports news - in the only way Amanda Gregg can - half truths with facts deliberately omitted in order to mislead the readers. The Garden Island Newspaper does not report news stories accurately.

    Can I prove her story was done with malice? Yes, I have several items of interest to include audio files and emails with Amanda Gregg and a jury will see her story was void of legal facts deliberately omitted in order to mislead the general public as she was upset with me for telling her that her reporting methods do in fact suck.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Charges To Be Dropped If My Website Is Removed

    Pinkerton Free Due To Prosecutorial Misconduct
    Amanda A. Gregg of The Garden Island Newspaper contributed to this article.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    A man who is perhaps best known as a gadfly among county officials won his case yesterday, because Kauai prosecutors interfered with a court order.

    Krstafer Pinkerton, a computer and network analyst and resident of Koloa with a Web site and blogs that critique the Kauai police department, prosecutor’s office and the county’s legal processes, was declared a free man yesterday.

    Circuit Court Judge Kathleen Watanabe found Pinkerton had been denied his right under Rule 48 to have a trial within six months due to a prosecutor interfering with a court order.

    Due to Prosecutorial Misconduct, all charges, which include 2 counts of assault on two police officers, DUI, criminal property damage, open container violation, and resisting arrest, have all been dropped "With Prejudice".

    According to court records, the County of Kauai Prosecutors had charged Pinkerton with enough crimes to put Pinkerton in prison for nearly 25 years.

    A district court case against Pinkerton was also dropped “With Prejudice” in August by District Court Judge Trudy Senda based on the same infraction. The charges he was arrested on for the District Court case was Terroristic Threatening in the first degree and Intimidating a Witness, the alleged victim was also a Kauai Police Officer. Those charges were later dropped to a harassment charge despite Pinkerton’s plea for a jury trial. According to state law, there is no jury trial for harassment charges.

    Dan Hempey, Pinkerton’s attorney, said in court that his client had suffered more than a violation of Rule 48 but had also been denied several civil rights.

    According to court documents, a letter from the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office dated May 23, 2006 offered Pinkerton two days to accept a plea deal to cover a total of 3 separate arrests, 4 felonies and 5 misdemeanors, dismissed without prejudice.

    The deal was based on several conditions, including his waiving of the right to Rule 48, to withdrawing civil claims against the County of Kauai, to sign releases of liability for any and all of it's various departments , to take down his Web site kpinkerton.com, to disclose how he obtained the screen captures from the police records management system that he is displaying on his website, to write letters of apology to the police officers in question and agree to moving away from Kaua‘i within 60 days of May 23, 2006. Pinkerton said "no".

    According to Pinkerton’s website, Pinkerton claims of police conspiring against him for his discussions with former Kauai Chief K.C. Lum to purchase and planning the installation of GPS modules in police cruisers.

    Through an alleged malicious pattern of practice by Kauai Police Officers, Pinkerton had been arrested twice before on other interesting charges, Pinkerton also claims that his audio recorder and GPS antennae were stolen when he was beaten up by police “who had no probable cause” to approach him when he was charged for 2 counts of Assault on Police officers, Resisting Arrest, Criminal Property Damage, DUI, Illegal Storage of and Intoxicant.

    “This case started with an arrest, then went to (Pinkerton’s previous attorney), then to a plea offer to dismiss the case entirely if he would take down his Web site and move,” Hempey said.

    “He says ‘No’ and wants his right to a trial, and he gets indicted again — and the state makes the mistake of thinking the indictment clock starts over. But it doesn’t,” Hempey said.

    Though both the prosecution and defense agreed 148 days of the 180-day limit had been clocked when tallying Rule 48, 35 remaining days remained for Watanabe to divvy out.

    At the crux of the issue was the timeline of a motion filed by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Marc Guyot and granted by Watanabe Nov. 20, 2006, requesting a mental and penal responsibility examination of Pinkerton. Watanabe had granted the motion with a two-week deadline.

    Court records show the order was filed Dec. 14, meaning prosecutors didn’t meet that deadline, Hempey said. Even if they had, he argued, only half of the order had been set in motion.

    That’s because prosecutors had “unilaterally told (the doctor) to only do the mental portion of the examination and not do the penal responsibility section,” Hempey said, deducing that a delay of Rule 48 happened “because of Marc Guyot’s’ prosecutorial usurpation of the court’s authority.”

    “That delay was caused by the prosecutor telling the doctor to ignore half a court order. I can’t think of anything more egregious in terms of delaying a case than (Prosecutor Marc Guyot) going behind a court order and telling someone not to follow it. That caused the delay. The 704 proceedings did not cause the delay”, Hempey said.

    But prosecutors maintained their office had filed the order prior to Dec. 14, despite the absence of a record.

    Though there weren’t minutes or court records to that effect, First Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Bridges said Guyot had written a note in his file stating he had processed the order before Dec. 14 and that it had been rejected and he was forced to resubmit it on the latter date.

    But Hempey said a note written in a prosecutor’s file shouldn’t be considered an official record.

    “I don’t want to be glib,” Hempey said. “But I don’t think a note from Mr. Guyot in the file relayed to the court by Mr. Bridges satisfies their burden of proof. This is the problem with recharging a guy in the middle of the time clock.”

    Watanabe said after investigating on her end, the order had been expeditiously executed.

    “This court takes great pride in moving orders out of its chambers,” Watanabe said. “If this court were responsible for what basically attributed to the delay of Mr. Pinkerton I’d be the first to admit it,” she said. “In a matter of 24 hours the order was turned around by this court.”

    With all those factors in mind, Watanabe said Pinkerton’s case had used up 198 days, thus precluding him from being within the allotted amount of time to proceed to trial.

    According to court records, the original date of arrest was March 5, 2006 and calculating the time from arrest to the time of this hearing has been 583 days or 1 year, 7 months, 4 days.

    583 days can be converted to one of these units: 50,371,200 seconds or 839,520 minutes or 13,992 hours.

    “Given the circumstances which contributed to the delay by the prosecutor’s office — the delay in submitting the order for court but moreso the delays caused by interference of a court order — the court’s granting the dismissal with prejudice, Mr. Pinkerton, you are hereby discharged, these charges cannot be brought against you again" Watanabe said.

  7. #7

    Question Re: Charges To Be Dropped If My Website Is Removed

    Do you even have a question? What is your purpose for posting all this stuff? I am not an atty, but your postings are made with the presumption that you have been unfairly targeted by the Kauai Police Department, the State of Hawaii, and some reporter. Well, this is a legal forum, not some blog. But for all you legal eagles out there who may actually want to gain some understanding into OP's rantings, go here.. http://hoohiki2.courts.state.hi.us/jud/Hoohiki/main.htm

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Charges To Be Dropped If My Website Is Removed

    you wont gain much understanding from obtaining tainted records.... rantings are more revilies and joys of victory. I hope to help others who have suffered denials of justice. It was my hope to inspire people to stand firm and not let the corrupt win without a fight.

  9. #9

    Default Re: Charges To Be Dropped If My Website Is Removed

    Tainted records? Maybe..but they're still public court records. I am all for defending against public servant corruption and agree with you on this point. Having been born and raised and lived my entire life in Hawaii, I am well aware of how much our State government is lacking on numerous levels, especially our judicial process. However, if your true intention was to help someone, then ask a question of the experts, so that they may offer sound legal advice, then anyone reading this thread (including you) could get the answers they're looking for.

    So I guess now I have a question..are you saying that ALL of the [U]public court records[U] for the State of Hawaii with your name attached to it is also tainted? Just curious..

    And as I made it clear in my 1st post, I'm no atty, but there seems to be more to the story, if you care to share. Aloha..

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Charges To Be Dropped If My Website Is Removed

    I would be happy to create a username and password for you to access the locked portion of my website if you send me an email via my site. The WHOLE story can be read and digested. It would be easier for you to read it at your leisure than for me to re-hash these cases...

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