LIHUE — A judge on Tuesday ruled that statements a Koloa woman made to police before she was informed of her right to remain silent can be used against her at her upcoming trial.
Destinie Keamoai-Barnes spent most of an hour-long ride in the back of a police cruiser “spilling her guts” to the officer who had just arrested her, her defense attorney said, while the attorney questioned the officer who had arrested Keamoai-Barnes during a court hearing Tuesday morning.
Keamoai-Barnes, 35, could face up to a year in jail for each of the two misdemeanors she was charged with for allegedly beating up a female family member last year. Her trial starts Monday.
The charges against Keamoai-Barnes stem from an incident in June 2018 when officers with the Kauai Police Department responded to a domestic disturbance call at a Kekaha home and found her standing outside the house, “screaming and hollering about something,” according to her arresting officer, Mark Stulpe, who testified at Tuesday’s hearing.
Stulpe said he gave up trying to interview Keamoai-Barnes after determining she was too angry to talk at the time and moved on to speak with other witnesses on the scene, one of whom was a woman who told him Keamoai-Barnes had just assaulted her.
That part of the incident was recorded on Stulpe’s body camera, which he shut off after talking to the witnesses in order to confer with another officer. After concluding that Keamoai-Barnes “was the aggressor” in the altercation, Stulpe said, he returned to her and made the arrest.
Stulpe said he forgot to turn his body camera back on before making the arrest, and did not start recording again until after he had Keamoai-Barnes in custody. The camera was rolling during most of the hour-long trip back to KPD headquarters in Lihue, capturing Keamoai-Barnes angrily ranting about the incident from the back seat of the police cruiser.
“She was just livid,” Stulpe said, describing some of the often-graphic and potentially-incriminating things Keamoai-Barnes told him during the drive.
Those statements were among the contested pieces of evidence and the focal point of Tuesday’s court hearing because Keamoai-Barnes made them prior to being read her Miranda rights, a constitutionally mandated warning police are required to give suspects in custody before questioning.
Stulpe didn’t read Keamoai-Barnes her rights until she was booked back at KPD headquarters, over an hour after the arrest, because, Stulpe said, “She was going crazy. She wasn’t going to listen.”
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Katherine Caswell, who is handling the case on behalf of the state, filed a motion last month asking the judge presiding over the case to allow Keamoai-Barnes’ pre-Miranda statements to be presented at trial on the grounds that they were made voluntarily.
Melinda Mendes, attorney for Keamoai-Barnes, attempted to prevent the prosecutor’s request from being granted, arguing in an opposing motion filed last week that her client “did not knowingly, voluntarily or intelligently waive off her constitutional rights when providing that statement.”
The prosecution’s argument hinged on proving that Keamoai-Barnes spoke to her arresting officer spontaneously and without being questioned by police.
“There’s no interrogation during transport,” Caswell said at Tuesday’s hearing. “He did not ask her any questions.”
Mendes did not contest the assertion, but argued that Stulpe should have known better than to let Keamoai-Barnes continue saying things he must have realized would be potentially incriminating. She even accused the officer of recording what Keamoai-Barnes said intentionally, knowing that her statements could be used in court.
During her cross-examination of Stulpe, Mendes asked whether he regularly recorded suspects who were under arrest but had not yet been read their rights and used it as a calculated tactic against them.
“I may have used it in the past,” Stulpe said. “But I don’t make a regular habit of it.”
“Everything he did that night was geared toward getting her convicted,” Mendes said of Stulpe’s interaction with Keamoai-Barnes on the day of the arrest. “I would submit that he set her up.”
Fifth Circuit Chief Judge Randal Valenciano remained unconvinced.
“Are you sure she didn’t set herself up?” he asked. “She has to bear some responsibility for her actions.”
Valenciano sided with the prosecution, ruling to allow Keamoai-Barnes’ statements to be used as evidence in her trial. Jury selection starts Monday.
•••
Caleb Loehrer, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0441 or cloehrer@thegardenisland.com.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but shouldn’t police offers read you your rights, whether or not you’re “listening”? Reading someone their rights, whether they’re incoherent or whatever, can get the police out of sticky situations like this.
As a concern citizen for an KPD Officer’s safety and a taxpayer buying equipment for the KPD Officers safety, “the body camera should have stayed on at all time!”
HOLD UP. He turned off his body cam to confer with another officer? That on it’s own has me wanting to ask so many questions. Why are they wearing a body cam if they can turn it on and off at any time? In any situation that gives them the ability to “turn it off” when it’s convenient for them. KPD isn’t even laughable anymore. They are just down right swimming in their own stupidity.
How could she have set herself up ? I don’t think, she even knew that the body camera was turn off nd later turn on”. Mumbling out loud is not evidence.
In regards to the front page I’m extremely disappointed in KPD and garden island for displaying this on the front page. Despite her addition and disease she is a mother and her daughter loves her no matter what. Shame on you for not taking into consideration her loved ones will eventually read this!!!