“Money, drugs or sex.”
“Money, drugs or sex.”
Those were the options a 16-year-old girl allegedly was given by a state Department of Land and Natural Resources enforcement officer accused of raping the teen on a Hilo beach on New Year’s Day 2016 to avoid an arrest, Deputy Prosecutor Haaheo Kahoohalahala told jurors Wednesday to open the trial of the officer, Ethan Ferguson.
Ferguson, 40, of Hilo faces two counts of second-degree sexual assault and three counts of fourth-degree sexual assault and faces a possible 10-year prison sentence if convicted.
Kahoohalahala told jurors the girl had a pipe with marijuana when Ferguson contacted her at Lalakea Beach Park in Keaukaha. She said the teen thought Ferguson was taking her to his vehicle, but instead took her to an area with bushes, long grass and trees and sexually assaulted her. The prosecutor said the evidence will show Ferguson’s DNA was found in the girl’s jean shorts.
Defense attorney Mirtha Oliveros countered by calling Ferguson “the protagonist of the story, the good guy” and said the officer had merely given a warning to the teen. Oliveros told the jury the girl had harassed a turtle and given Ferguson a phony name. She said Ferguson “may have not followed every single procedure he could have.”
Oliveros explained the DNA by saying Ferguson “allowed (the girl) to get too close to his person.” She also told the jury there was no evidence of bruising or other injuries to the teen.
The girl’s stepmother, whom the Tribune-Herald is not identifying to protect the identity of the alleged victim, testified she heard about the incident secondhand from the girl’s father the following day, and that the teen resisted going to the hospital for an examination.
“I knew she was holding back something,” the stepmother said, and added the girl was “afraid, traumatized and scared, not knowing what was going to happen.”
The stepmother said prior to the alleged incident, the girl “loved school.”
“She excelled in school,” the woman said. “She wanted to see if she could graduate early and get early admission into college.”
According to the stepmother, “everything went into the downward spiral” after the alleged Jan. 1, 2016, incident.
The stepmother said the girl’s school attendance and grades started to suffer, and the teen “didn’t want to go out because she was afraid she would run into (Ferguson).”
The woman also testified the teen later smoked marijuana in her room, and one of her younger children asked what the smell was.
“You didn’t know that (the alleged victim) had a marijuana pipe at the beach. Correct?” Oliveros asked.
“Correct,” the woman replied.
Police Detective Fetuutuunai Amuimuia testified the teenager picked Ferguson’s image out of a photo lineup as her assailant.
Amuimuia said he went to Ferguson’s home to arrest him, but didn’t tell Ferguson the charges were sexual assault until they got to the police station.
Asked what Ferguson’s reaction was, Amuimuia replied, “With all due respect to the court, he said s—- and f—- me.”
Ferguson, who is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of his trial, was fired for misconduct by the Honolulu Police Department prior to his 2013 hiring as a state law enforcement officer. His mother, Jackie Ferguson-Miyamoto, is president of the Hawaii Government Employees Association, the union representing DLNR’s Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement officers.
Trial continues at 9 a.m. today before Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.