Jury finds Mundon guilty

LIHU‘E — After a nine-day jury trial, James Mundon, 55, of Kapa‘a, was found guilty Monday of third-degree assault, first-degree attempted sexual assault, kidnapping and second-degree attempted assault.

County Prosecuting Attorney Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho on Tuesday said she would seek a prison term that likely would put Mundon behind bars for the rest of his life.

Sentencing has been scheduled Sept. 15 before 5th Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe, who in February 2007 sentenced Mundon to 40 years in prison after a jury-trial conviction on the same charges.

The Hawai‘i Supreme Court in late 2009 overturned that first conviction on appeal, ruling that since Mundon wasn’t able to play compact discs of his trial proceedings his constitutional rights were violated.

The high court also ruled he should have received written transcripts, which on Kaua‘i are not routinely provided. The Supreme Court said Watanabe erred in not getting Mundon his case notes, which were left behind when he was transported from Halawa Correctional Facility on O‘ahu to Kaua‘i Community Correctional Center.

As a result, the case went back to the 5th Circuit Court for a new trial.

The case involved a February 2004 incident at Marine Camp near Wailua Golf Course where Mundon allegedly assaulted and attempted to rape a 21-year-old female visitor from Canada.

The new trial was twice disrupted by state-employee furloughs that closed down the courthouse here on consecutive Fridays, June 18 and June 25. This week, a jury of his peers deliberated less than four hours before delivering a guilty verdict on both charges.

During her closing arguments Monday morning, Iseri-Carvalho asked jurors to put themselves into the victim’s sandals, “thinking that you’re going to die” and standing nearly naked with a “madman” with a knife threatening to kill you if you don’t have sex with him.

She said to imagine how the events of the “brutal attack” left Montana Laroc with wounds outside her body and a feeling that she would suffocate with his fingers rammed down her throat to prevent her from screaming.

“James Mundon is a master manipulator” who viewed Laroc as prey and in a “pre-calculated, premeditated” and “conniving” manner drove her to an isolated area where he attempted to have sex with her against her will, Iseri-Carvalho said.

The prosecutor painted the picture of the interior of Mundon’s work truck as a prison from which Laroc, with no idea where she was except she could hear the crashing waves of the sea during a pitch-dark early morning, had no reasonable escape route.

She’s locked in the car, Mundon says he has a knife and he’s going to do to her what he wants, and if she doesn’t comply he’s going to tie her up and do it anyway, Iseri-Carvalho said.

Laroc was finally able to get away from Mundon and knock on a door of the nearby Kaua‘i Beach Villas, pleading with another visitor for shelter from her attacker.

Mundon, who represented himself in the case this time around, in his closing arguments thanked jurors for their participation and proceeded to tell “my story.” He said he went to the beach to fish or look for bait (although investigators nor Laroc could recall seeing any fishing poles or other fishing equipment), that there were many holes in the Kaua‘i Police Department investigation of the alleged crime, that he doesn’t deny being with Laroc but continued to deny he attempted to have sex with her or assaulted her.

He also told jurors there were minimal KPD printed reports on their investigation, though Iseri-Carvalho said hundreds of pages of KPD documents were introduced as evidence in the case.

“I am entitled to a fair trial,” Mundon said, adding that KPD’s inability to produce paper proof of his guilt and other problems should add up to reasonable doubt in jurors’ minds. (Several investigating and responding officers testified under oath about the events of the case.)

“Facts are required to convict me, not fairy tales. How can we know it’s truthful, reliable?” he asked.

Mundon, who has been housed at KCCC since his return to Kaua‘i, wore blue jeans and a white-and-gray-striped, casual shirt, in court Monday.

“This was no fairy tale,” Iseri-Carvalho said. “This was a living hell,” adding that consistency plus corroboration plus completeness equals conviction.

During the February 2004 preliminary hearing before his first trial, Laroc pointed to Mundon as the man who attacked her, said he threatened to kill her, made her strip and held a knife to her throat during a two-hour ordeal.  

In her 90-minute testimony, Laroc claimed Mundon kept her in the cab of his truck in the early morning hours of Feb. 5, 2004, near the Kaua‘i Beach Resort near Hanama‘ulu, forced her to take off her clothes, and continually tried to fondle her.

When she tried to run away, he chased her down on the beach, and when she screamed he punched her in the ribs and pushed his fingers down her throat, she testified.

Laroc also testified during the jury trials in 2006 and 2010.

Sexual assault case heard before 4 judges over 4.5 years

The assault and attempted rape case of James Mundon, 55, of Kapa‘a, is so long-lasting that two now-retired judges have presided over it, and it continues into a fifth year. Here is a timetable:

• Feb. 5, 2004: Mundon arrested on sexual-assault, kidnapping, terroristic threatening and assault charges;

• Feb. 11, 2004: Preliminary hearing wherein 5th District Judge Trudy Senda finds enough probable cause to hold Mundon over for trial, sets bail at $170,000;

• Feb. 19, 2004: Mundon before 5th Circuit Judge Clifford Nakea enters not-guilty plea, requests jury trial;

• April 20, 2004: First scheduled jury trial, continued;

• June 18, 2004: Mundon before Nakea dismisses his public defender, requests a trial and says he’ll represent himself (pro se);

• Aug. 24, 2004: Nakea dismisses case without prejudice (meaning charges can be re-filed) due to violation of Mundon’s right to a speedy trial; County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho says Mundon’s former attorney caused delay by requesting DNA evidence that took a long time to acquire;

• Jan. 13, 2005: Mundon sentenced by Masuoka to five years in prison after his probation was revoked on a family-abuse charge not related to the assault, kidnapping and sex-assault case;

• Jan. 12, 2006: Arraignment and plea (not guilty, request jury trial) before 5th Circuit Judge George Masuoka on re-filed case, charging 21 counts of third-degree sexual assault (a class C felony), two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening (C felony), first-degree attempted sexual assault (a class A felony), third-degree attempted sexual assault (C felony), kidnapping (A felony), third-degree assault (a misdemeanor), first-degree attempted assault (B felony), and second-degree attempted assault (C felony); Mundon makes an oral motion to dismiss case; Masuoka advises him to enter his plea and get a trial date first before making any motions; Mundon does just that;

• Feb. 6, 2006: Scheduled first day of jury trial before 5th Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe; trial continued;

• Feb. 9, 2006: Mundon files motion to dismiss (he will withdraw it Feb. 23, 2006);

• April 4, 2006: Through attorney Al Castillo, Mundon makes motion to request an advanced trial date; granted, new trial date May 16, 2006;

• May 15, 2006: Scheduled first day of jury trial, continued;

• Sept. 28, 2006: Mundon files motion to dismiss (Watanabe denies motion);

• Dec. 11, 2006: Jury trial, day one;

• Dec. 20, 2007: Jury finds Mundon guilty of first-degree terroristic threatening, kidnapping, attempted first-degree sexual assault, attempted second-degree sexual assault and third-degree assault;

• Feb. 15, 2007: Watanabe sentences Mundon to 40 years in prison on charges of first-degree terroristic threatening, kidnapping, third-degree assault, attempted assault and attempted first-degree sexual assault;

• Between February 2007 and March 2010: Case is appealed, and Hawai‘i Supreme Court overturns conviction, ruling that since he wasn’t able to play compact discs of his trial proceedings his constitutional rights were violated. The high court also ruled he should have gotten written transcripts, which on Kaua‘i are not routinely provided. The high court also said Watanabe erred in not getting Mundon his case notes, which were left behind when he was transported from Halawa Correctional Facility on O‘ahu to Kaua‘i Community Correctional Center;

• March 2, 2010: Motion to set trial date;

• June 14, 2010: Jury trial, day one;

• June 28, 2010: Jury finds Mundon guilty on same four counts as Feb. 15, 2007;

• Sept. 15, 2010: Scheduled sentencing.

Sources: hoohiki1.courts.state.hi.us/jud/Hoohiki/
main.htm (state court records), TGI archives

• Paul C. Curtis, assistant editor and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com.