A 36-year-old Hilo man allegedly threatened his 51-year-old ex-girlfriend and told her that if she didn’t drop a felony domestic abuse charge against him, he would strangle her.
Justin James Clark made his initial court appearance Wednesday after his arrest Tuesday on a charge of intimidating a witness, a Class C felony carrying a potential five-year prison term.
Defense attorney Joseph Robello requested that Clark be freed on supervised release — a form of cashless bail — and Deputy Prosecutor Kirsten Selvig objected.
Hilo District Judge Kanani Laubach maintained Clark’s bail at $10,000 and ordered Clark to return today for a preliminary hearing.
Clark remains in custody at Hawaii Community Correctional Center.
According to court documents filed by police, Clark drove to the woman’s Hawaiian Paradise Park home unannounced in a black Ford Ranger pickup truck at about 11 a.m. Tuesday and demanded that she let him inside, despite an order from a judge for Clark to stay away from her.
The woman told police she let Clark inside because she was afraid of what he would do to her if she didn’t, according to the documents.
Once inside, Clark allegedly told the woman “drop the charges” and yelled that if she didn’t comply, “I’m going to strangle you.”
The charge Clark allegedly referred to is a charge of domestic abuse aggravated by strangulation that stems from an April 24 incident, according to court records. The same woman is the victim in that case, and Clark’s terms of release include orders to stay 100 yards away from the woman’s residence and place of employment.
The domestic abuse aggravated by strangulation charge is a Class C felony punishable by up to five years imprisonment.
Clark also allegedly told the woman he would return to her home at 5 p.m. Tuesday, but police arrested him at 1:50 p.m.
Clark initially waived his right to a lawyer and told police he wasn’t at the woman’s home, documents state, but later admitted to having gone there — and immediately afterwards said, “I want a lawyer.”
The woman filed a petition Tuesday for a temporary restraining order against Clark, and he was served with a notice to appear at 9 a.m. July 25 before Hilo Family Court Judge Jeff Ng.
The victim had previously filed a petition for a TRO against Clark, but there were two hearings without Clark having been served with summons to appear, and the petition was dismissed.
Clark has two felony convictions on his record, according to court records.
One is for first-degree arson for burning a Hawaiian Acres home to the ground on April 26, 2013. He was still on probation in that case, with multiple violations of that probation over the years.
Clark also was on probation for a first-degree negligent homicide conviction. The conviction, in December 2020, stemmed from a Jan. 6, 2017, traffic collision on Highway 130 near Leilani Estates that killed 37-year-old Michael Simmons of O’Brien, Ore.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
