HONOLULU — Manslaughter charges against a retired car dealer in connection with a deadly 2006 Kaua‘i dam breach were upheld Thursday. James Pflueger was scheduled to go to trial in April 2010, but Circuit Judge Randal Valenciano allowed defense attorneys
HONOLULU — Manslaughter charges against a retired car dealer in connection with a deadly 2006 Kaua‘i dam breach were upheld Thursday.
James Pflueger was scheduled to go to trial in April 2010, but Circuit Judge Randal Valenciano allowed defense attorneys to appeal rulings he made denying two motions to dismiss the case. Valenciano said he wouldn’t schedule a new trial date until the appellate process was completed.
The state Intermediate Court of Appeals decision Thursday affirms Valenciano’s rulings and allows the manslaughter case to proceed.
State Attorney General David Louie said he was pleased with the court’s ruling, “and we intend to continue to vigorously prosecute the case.”
Pflueger, 85, has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of manslaughter charges in the deaths of seven people swept from their homes after the century-old Kaloko dam broke on his property upstream.
An attorney for Pflueger, David Minkin, said he will consider appealing the ruling to the Hawai‘i Supreme Court.
“It was a wrong decision because we believe we had sufficient evidence to warrant reversal of the trial court,” Minkin said.
One of the accusations against Pflueger is that the dam’s emergency spillway, designed to keep water from flowing over the dam, had been covered. He has repeatedly denied that he had the spillway filled. An independent investigator concluded the lack of a spillway caused or contributed to the failure.
Pflueger’s attorneys had cited double jeopardy in a motion to dismiss the case because he already pleaded guilty to illegal grading on the land.
Kaua‘i County last year agreed to pay $7.5 million for its portion of a settlement covering lawsuits filed by the families of the victims. The state’s share was $1.5 million. The state, county and other landowners, including Pflueger, were named as defendants. Property owners who suffered damage when the dam failed were also parties in the lawsuit.
