LIHU‘E — Housing a physically disabled prisoner is the responsibility of the Department of Public Safety, not a justifiable reason alone for conditional release. That was 5th Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe’s position Wednesday in the matter of a motion for
LIHU‘E — Housing a physically disabled prisoner is the responsibility of the Department of Public Safety, not a justifiable reason alone for conditional release.
That was 5th Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe’s position Wednesday in the matter of a motion for amending the terms and conditions of probation for Douglas James Moises.
Deputy Public Defender John Calma said Moises has served six months of his sentence, but if he is not offered the correct physical rehabilitation, it could result in irreversible consequences for his ability to walk.
Moises is now blind and Calma said walking in the gravel of Kaua‘i Community Correctional Center is not safe. He added that the staff of KCCC consider special-needs care of prisoners to be difficult in a facility not designed to accommodate them.
One alternative is to allow Moises to serve the remaining six months under conditional release and a home monitor. His spouse, who was in court, would care for him and take him to regular physical therapy.
The initial request for conditional release came on Nov. 16, when Watanabe declined, noting the lack of an attending physician’s signature or relevant notes to make a decision. The motion on Wednesday was accompanied by a signature and letter from the KCCC contracted physician.
Watanabe still declined the motion, noting the care and attention to Moises and his needs is the responsibility of the DPS. She said it was up to the DPS to meet these needs or to move Moises to an appropriate facility.
County Deputy Prosecutor John Murphy strongly objected to the motion. He would not object if KCCC were unable to attend to the physical rehabilitation of Moises, he said, but care was available and reasonable to accomplish by transporting him to off-site day therapy.
The nature of the offense was a large part of the denial, as Watanabe recalled when Moises, 56, of Lihu‘e, was arrested on April 3, 2009 for manslaughter and first-degree negligent injury. He pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of first-degree negligent homicide on March 14.
Moises was intoxicated at more than twice the legal limit and driving more than 60 miles per hour on Rice Street in downtown Lihu‘e, the judge said. The subsequent collision resulted not only in blindness and disability for Moises, but took the life of his passenger and seriously wounded the driver of the other vehicle.
Watanabe said it would be difficult to grant conditional release in a case involving death and serious injury. She said Moises would serve the remaining six-month jail sentence and then complete the other terms of his five-year probation.
• Tom LaVenture, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or by emailing tlaventure@thegardenisland.com.
