Hawai‘i Police Department Vice Section detective found guilty of perjury : Big Island Now

A detective with the Hawai‘i Police Division East Hawai‘i Vice Part was discovered responsible of perjury following a bench trial April 2 in Hilo Circuit Courtroom.

Circuit Courtroom Choose Peter Kubota discovered William Brown responsible of knowingly making a false assertion, underneath oath, to a grand jury continuing earlier than the third Circuit Courtroom whereas employed as a Hawaiʻi County police detective.

He’ll return Could 23 earlier than Kubota in Hilo Circuit Courtroom for sentencing. Perjury is a Class C felony. He faces a most sentence of 5 years in jail.

Brown has remained on the Hawai‘i Police Division drive underneath suspension since his arrest in December 2023 and all through his court docket proceedings.

He has served for greater than 20 years with the division and was 2009 Officer of the 12 months.

Brown grew to become a Vice detective in March 2021 after transferring as much as detective in Could 2016, working a number of years within the division’s East and West Hawai‘i Legal Investigation Sections.

The false assertion for which he was discovered responsible of creating concerned his interview with a suspect in a case the place medicine had been present in a automobile.

Throughout the interview, the suspect said a number of instances that the one merchandise she introduced into the automobile together with her was her cellphone. The vast majority of the medicine discovered within the automobile had been in a black bag that additionally contained a pink stuffed animal pencil case.

Brown falsely testified to the grand jury that the suspect claimed to have introduced her cellphone and the pink stuffed animal case into the automobile together with her.

That testimony, a minimum of partially, led to the defendant’s indictment on felony drug prices for selling a harmful drug.

Deputy Hawai‘i Lawyer Normal Albert Prepare dinner prosecuted the case.

“Our legal system is designed to find the truth. When witnesses lie, it undermines our legal system and perverts the quest for justice,” stated Prepare dinner in an announcement about Kubota’s determination in Brown’s case. “The [Hawai‘i] Department of the Attorney General is committed to protecting the integrity of the criminal justice system and will prosecute those who commit perjury.”