LIHU‘E — The arraignment of a Hanapepe physician on new state charges stemming from a 2010 drug dispensing case was continued for a month to produce the defendant from federal custody. The continued arraignment of Harold C. Spear III, 60,
LIHU‘E — The arraignment of a Hanapepe physician on new state charges stemming from a 2010 drug dispensing case was continued for a month to produce the defendant from federal custody.
The continued arraignment of Harold C. Spear III, 60, was continued again to Nov. 13 on Tuesday in 5th Circuit Court. Spear started serving a 12-year sentence on similar charges in March, with a release date of Oct. 29, 2022.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons lists Spear as recently moved to the Federal Correctional Institution at Terminal Island, Calif. It is a low security facility housing male inmates at the entrance to Los Angeles Harbor.
Hawai‘i Deputy Attorney General Gary K. Senaga spoke via phone in court. He said work is proceeding through an interstate agreement on detainers that would allow the state to request the return of the federal inmate to be arraigned on the untried indictment.
Honolulu attorney Nelson W. S. Goo spoke via phone as Spear’s court appointed attorney. Goo said he is confident that the state will be able to produce Spear in 5th Circuit, but that the process would take some time.
The attorneys want to produce Spear in 5th Circuit for a one-day event to dismiss the original case and complete an arraignment in the new one. There is also a tentative agreement of a change of plea and sentencing, according to attorney statements.
Judge Kathleen N.A. Watanabe scheduled a hearing for Nov. 13. If Spear pleads guilty or no contest the court could sentence him to five years on each felony charge.
The original state indictment came in 2009, when Spear was indicted for knowingly dispensing controlled substances as a licensed physician in 2005 and 2006. The state case had been on hold after Spear was brought up on federal charges of illegally dispensing controlled drugs in Alabama.
Spear pleaded guilty to both state charges on March 31, 2010, but was allowed to withdraw his plea this past May during the sentencing phase, which resulted in the attorney general filing a new indictment.
