LIHU’E — A 52-year-old man charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting a female under the age of 14 could be changing his not-guilty pleas later this month. Reynaldo Coloma was in Circuit Court last week before Judge Kathleen Watanabe, when
LIHU’E — A 52-year-old man charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting a female under the age of 14 could be changing his not-guilty pleas later this month.
Reynaldo Coloma was in Circuit Court last week before Judge Kathleen Watanabe, when his attorney, Gilbert Kea, said he received a plea-agreement offer from lawyers in the county prosecutor’s office.
However, Kea said he was having a hard time getting Coloma to understand the offer, because Coloma is under heavy medication.
In court, Kea did not say what was in the plea offer.
He asked Watanabe for time to allow Coloma’s medication to be lowered to a point where he would be able to understand what was in the plea offer.
Watanabe scheduled a hearing for Monday, Nov. 21, and asked Kea to let her know if his client will not be ready by then.
Coloma was scheduled to go to trial last week.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges earlier this year after being indicted on one count of kidnapping, three counts of attempted sexual assault, six counts of sexual assault, and three counts of harassment.
According to the five-page indictment, the allegations took place between 1997 and 2002.
Bail was set at $80,150.
According to court records, Coloma was arrested in May in Hanama’ulu.
In June, an attorney from the state Office of the Public Defender withdrew from the case because the alleged victim is related to a member of the office’s staff.
