Prosecution lays out case in fatal shooting of acupuncturist

Forty-eight seconds.

That’s how long it took for Eric Thompson to walk in to the Waipahu office of acupuncturist Jon Tokuhara, shoot him in the face four times with a.22-caliber firearm, then walk out, deputy prosecutor Benjamin Rose said Wednesday afternoon in his opening statement to an Oahu Circuit Court jury.

His motive? It was personal.

“How does someone get over the feeling of betrayal?” he asked. “Eric Thompson killed a man who slept with his wife.”

Thompson is on trial for the Jan. 12, 2022, murder of Tokuhara on a charge of second-degree murder and a firearm charge. He has been under house arrest after posting a $1 million bail bond Feb. 14, 2022.

Family and friends of both Tokuhara and Thompson, including his wife, packed Judge Paul Wong’s courtroom, and many had to wait outside the courtroom or view the trial remotely.

Thompson, a 2005 Kalani High School graduate, appeared to have had a perfect life, started a successful business, Island Bath Works, bought a home on Kalanianaole Highway, married his high school sweetheart in 2017 and had a baby girl in June 2020.

But behind Thompson’s perfect image was the sad fact that Tokuhara had a prolonged affair with his wife, the deputy prosecutor said.

Rose said Tokuhara’s cellphone contained 5,600 text messages with Joyce Thompson that were sexual in nature and included nude photographs. Thompson’s husband had found out about the affair in July 2021 and that the relationship ended.

But Thompson’s attorney, David Hayakawa, told jurors Tokuhara “had a track record of cheating,” including with women who had families. When he got tired of them, he ghosted them, including another woman with whom he had exchanged 2,500 messages, he said.

Hayakawa said there were others who would have had the same motive, including jilted women.

He accused the police of being “suspect-centric.” Said Hayakawa, “Once they focus on a suspect, they start ignoring evidence that pointed to other leads.”

He also alleged Tokuhara had a secret life of gambling and questioned why he had $3,900 in large bills in a wrapper with the word “herbs” found next to his body.

Hayakawa said Tokuhara took advantage of people, that he treated Thompson’s wife for infertility, and that she got pregnant. He was a life coach and spent hours with her. To have sex with a client was unethical.

Hayakawa said that the Thompsons had reconciled at the time of the murder, and that Joyce Thompson had gotten therapy, and Eric Thompson realized he was overworking.

“Life was good at the time this happened,” he said. “There will be massive reasonable doubt.”

The case was initially a whodunit, Rose said.

Rose listed several pieces of evidence that tied Thompson to the crime, including DNA taken from a white bucket hat that fell onto the road when the suspect in a surveillance video hurriedly left the acupuncture office.

A homeless man picked it up and wore it. Police recovered it and tested the DNA and Thompson’s DNA could not be excluded from the DNA profile found on the hat.

The DNA did not match Tokuhara’s girlfriend’s recent ex-boyfriend, the first person they looked at.

Police saw a white four-door Chevrolet Silverado in surveillance videos and narrowed it down to 53 Silverado trucks from 2014-16, and found only one name associated with Tokuhara: Eric Thompson.

Rose said Thompson tried to disguise his truck by removing his silver toolbox the night of the murder, but later replaced it.

He also said Thompson used a small.22-caliber gun and that it typically doesn’t produce a loud sound, explaining why a watch shop owner did not hear any shots fired.

Police also discovered there was a large fire at the Thompsons’ home and a large metal burn pot, in which Rose alleges evidence was burned.

Rose told the jury Thompson’s heart had become cold and calculating and he made his wife confess to her parents, then had a post-marital agreement that he has sole custody of their baby and house, and that he forbade her to see her siblings, whom he thought had aided and abetted his wife in the affair.

Hayakawa discounted the evidence, questioning how they narrowed the trucks down to the 53. He also said the burn pot was used to clean tools, and that the fire could have been from tiki torches.

He questioned the logging into evidence of cellphones, which was not done until June 2023, 16 months later. Hayakawa also questioned the methodology of the DNA sampling and testing, saying the first samples taken from the hat did not match Thompson.

Hayakawa said that police also failed to thoroughly investigate whether anyone from the gambling establishment may have had a problem with Tokuhara.

He also said there was another mystery man who went in to the shop at 6 :20 p.m., after Tokuhara was shot, according to the state’s theory.

The victim’s mother, Lilly Tokuhara, 81, took the witness stand. She was the last person with whom he exchanged texts the night of his death, and discovered his body the next morning.

She confirmed the texts she sent, asking if he was coming over for dinner.

She said he came over almost daily for dinner or to visit with her, his sister and twin nephews.

Her text at 5:43 p.m. Jan. 12, 2022, was, “Shall I pack for two?”

He responded at 6:12 p.m., “Just me. (His girlfriend) isn’t coming.”

The 81-year-old was silent when the next question was asked. The court ordered a recess, and she began sobbing. Many in the gallery, including her relatives, wept with her.

When he didn’t respond, she was concerned but thought he may have just gone home.

She took the dinner to him the next morning, and found his body on the floor in a pool of blood. Paperwork was all over the floor.

She called 911 and ran to other shops for help.

Tokuhara said she noticed the parking lot doors were open, the metal screen was open, and the glass door was ajar and unlocked.