LIHU‘E — A change of plea hearing involving James H. Pflueger that was scheduled to take place on Thursday has been continued for one month in 5th Circuit Court. Pflueger, 86, is charged with seven counts of manslaughter, all A
LIHU‘E — A change of plea hearing involving James H. Pflueger that was scheduled to take place on Thursday has been continued for one month in 5th Circuit Court.
Pflueger, 86, is charged with seven counts of manslaughter, all A felonies; and one count of first-degree reckless endangerment, a C felony charge. The charges stem to his alleged responsibility with the Ka Loko Dam breach in March 2006.
The change of plea hearing was continued until April 18, where Chief Judge Randal Valenciano will hear two motions regarding a waiver of indictment and a possible change of plea.
Pflueger is represented by private attorney William C. McCorriston, who filed a stipulation to continue the hearing on Pflueger’s motion to dismiss on Aug. 22, 2012. The motion to dismiss alleges prosecutorial misconduct filed on April 30, 2012.
The state, represented by Deputy Attorney General Kevin Takata, filed its opposition to the motion on July 26, 2012.
Pflueger was charged with tampering with the dam to control the water flow on his 30-acre property. The earthen dam failed after a 40-day rain in March 2006, sending a wall of water down to the Wailapa Road residential neighborhood below, killing Alan Gareth Dingwall, Daniel Jay Arroyo, Rowan Grey Makana Fehring-Dingwall, Aurora Solveig Fehring, Christina Michelle McNees and her unborn baby, Timothy Wendell Noonan Jr. and Carl Wayne Rotstein.
Pflueger’s motion to change the venue and dismiss the charges based on double-jeopardy was denied in 2010. Good-faith settlements were approved in 5th Circuit court in October 2009. The terms were sealed.
Pflueger is also facing federal tax fraud charges in a separate case.
