LIHUE — A man accused of punching his wife repeatedly through a window of her home and charged in multiple criminal cases took a plea offer from the state Wednesday. A hearing for Preston Reyes was set to begin in
LIHUE — A man accused of punching his wife repeatedly through a window of her home and charged in multiple criminal cases took a plea offer from the state Wednesday.
A hearing for Preston Reyes was set to begin in the Fifth Circuit Court before Judge Kathleen Watanabe but was set aside due to a plea agreement that, according to the state, was accepted at 10:42 a.m. by the defense.
Tempers flared between deputy prosecutor George White and defense attorney Melinda Mendes over a plea agreement ahead of her client’s trial that was scheduled to begin Monday.
Just moments prior to the hearing, White dropped off a packet of evidence to the defense and a witness list for the motion.
Mendes argued she never had a chance to review the information in the packet and that White had never spoken to her even though she had been sitting in the courtroom for more than an hour. She asked the court to grant the motion.
White objected and called Mendes’ statements a “flurry of drama.”
Counsels had a heated argument in open court until Watanabe asked about the plea agreement on the table. Counsels could not agree on whether the plea was identical to a plea the state had offered after a pre-trial conference just a few weeks before.
“You know counsels, cut out the gamesmanship. Cut out the nonsense,” Watanabe said. “I just want to know if there is going to be a plea agreement. And if there is, when are we going to do the agreement?”
Both the defense and the state agreed to a plea and moved forward.
Reyes is charged with multiple offenses, including three felonies, across six cases. The global plea encompasses all cases and drops two of three felonies down to misdemeanors.
In this case, Reyes must agree to plead guilty or no contest to abuse of family or household member — a misdemeanor.
The state agreed to drop the criminal property damage charge.
On July 22, 2015, Reyes allegedly came to the home of the mother of his two children’s and tried inside. He allegedly ripped through the window and grabbed the victim and began punching her.
