The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-05-27
THE CASE OF IOKUA
STORY OF AN ALLEGED THEFT
OF FIFTY CENTS.
Expensive Hearings, indictnant ANA
Trial and Final Acquittal-A Sample
of Man. tt-eo.

The case of one l. Ioliua, charged
with larceny in the second degree, fur
nshes a striking example of the work.
inEs of the old Hawaiian Penal Code
which crowd the Circuit Court with
petty criminal cases ami pile up court
expenses. The provisions Of the OId
code, combined with American laws
as to grand juries and jury trials. re-
suited in several hearings Of Iotua's
case, at a cost of something like a hun
dred dollars to the Territory, ami his
final aCquittal, on a charge of stealing
a bag containing 80 cents worth of coal.
The important case began on March
~, when Iokua appeared before Dis
trct Magistrate Wilcox. He was duly
committed to appear before the grand
jury, and on May Is the grand jury,
with Attorney General John w. Cath
cart took up the matter, with the re
suit that the following high sounding
legal document was evolved to show
the alleged theft of the fifty cents
" rth of coal
The Territory of Hawaii. First Cir
cult, to wit: At a term of the Circuit
Court begun at Honolulu, in the Island
of Oahu within and for the First Cir
cult Of the Territory of Hawaii, on the
9Th day of May in the Year of Our
Lord one Thousand Nine Hundred and
Two, the Grand Jurors of the Territory
of Hawaii. upon their official oaths,
present that l. Iokua, whose first name
is to the Grand Jurors unknown, of HO-
nOlulu, in the Island Of Oahu, in the
First Circuit, at Honolulu, in the ISL
and of Oahu. and in the Circuit afnre-
said and within the jurisdiction of this
| Honorable Court on the 18th day of
March, in the Year of Our Lord One
. ~
unlawfully and feloniously steal, take
and carry away one bag of coal of the
value of fifty cents of the goods, chat
tells and property of the Oceanic Steam
ship Company, corporation, and an
other here and there being found, and
did then and there and thereby COM
NIT the crime of larceny in the second
degree, contrary to the form of the
statute in such case made and prOVid-
ed.
"A true bill found this 10Th day of
May, A d. 1902. Clarence II. Cooke,
Foreman of the Grand Jury; John w.
Cathcart, Deputy Attorney General"
IOkua was next arraigned and secur-
ed the service of Judge Kaulukou as
counsel. Assistant Attorney General
DOuthitt prosecuted and 10 jurors We're
called to court at an expense of $3S, -
of them being chosen to trace the
Jumps of coal. They spent a whole
morning and then the records of the
case were increased by the addition of
one more document, setting forth that
the jury found the defendant Not
guilty"
Iokua is a quite well known native.
He is often to be seen diving along the
coal wharVes for pieces of coal that
drop into the water. He gathers them
up and sells them to Chinese and other
restaurants.
The next case to follow Iokuas was
very similar and in fact most of this
terms criminal work has been much
the same. That is why judges and
prosecuting officers as well as lawyers
who have to accept appointments TO
appear for pauper defendants, are hop
ing that the next legislature will make
some change in the laws, to give the
police court jurisdiction over such pet
~ cases, as police courts have on the
mainland.