Opinion ID: 3165025
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Testimony of Gary Massey

Text: The complaining witness, Massey, testified that he was 68 years old and worked as a security officer for the Colony Surf Hotel on the evening of November 9, 2012. He arrived at 10:30 p.m. to relieve another security officer, who told him that there was a party in Room 205 that generated two noise complaints and reports of graffiti in the stairwell. The other security officer had called the Honolulu Police Department. When police officers arrived, they and Massey went to Room 205 and dispersed the party guests. The police officers left, and Massey went to the 19th floor and walked down the stairwell, as part of his normal duties. Around 12:30 a.m., he heard more 2 Hawaii Revised Statutes (“HRS”) § 707-712(1)(a) (2014) provides, as it did at the time of the alleged offense, “A person commits the offense of assault in the third degree if the person . . . [i]ntentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily injury to another person[.]” 3  FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAII REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER  party noise coming from Room 205 and called the police again. Together, they cleared the room once more. Massey testified that an officer told him to escort two individuals off the property. Those individuals were Henley, who had a guitar strapped onto his back, and Copp, Henley’s friend. As the two were descending the stairs, they called Massey a “fucking faggot haole” and told him to “go back to [his] gay country.” According to Massey, as Copp exited the stairwell, Massey held the door open, and Henley head-butted Massey above the right eye, causing Massey to feel pain. Massey fell backwards and hit the ground, while Henley threw punches at him. When Massey was on the ground, Henley stood over him with a foot on either side of him; Massey then reached up and grabbed Henley’s left testicle and squeezed it. Henley screamed and jumped off of Massey. At some point during this encounter, Massey was kicked or punched in the left ear. Henley and Copp then ran into Kapiolani Park, and Massey alerted the police officers, who were still upstairs on the second floor, that he had been assaulted. The police officers drove through Kapiolani Park and located Henley and Copp. Massey then positively identified Henley as his assailant. On cross-examination, Massey admitted that Henley and Copp were voluntarily leaving the premises when Massey was following them, and that Massey could have remained behind them at a distance. 4  FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAII REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER