Hana man found guilty of assaulting tourist

WAILUKU — A Hana man has been found guilty of assaulting a tourist, who testified he was punched and kicked dozens of times after being awakened while camping with his girlfriend and children at Koki Beach Park.

In verdicts returned June 7 by a 2nd Circuit Court jury, James Pu, 33, was convicted of a lesser charge of attempted second-degree assault, as well as second-degree terroristic threatening and two counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor. He was found not guilty of another charge of second-degree terroristic threatening.

“A dream vacation turned into a nightmare,” Deputy Prosecutor Carson Tani told jurors.

He said Jeffery Funicello suffered a concussion and possible bone fractures from the beating the night of July 21, 2019.

Funicello, a Mesa, Ariz., resident who is now 51 years old, testified he was camping at the park with his then-girlfriend Elizabeth Kempton and his daughter and son, who were 9 and 10, respectively.

He was sleeping and awakened to headlights shining on the tent, horns honking and people yelling at about 11 p.m.

When he went outside, “I heard somebody say where you from, brah?” Funicello said. “I said, ‘I’m from Arizona.’ They said, ‘You can’t be here.’ ”

Funicello said he was surrounded by four men and identified Pu as the tallest and most muscular. “They said, ‘We are the law around here. You can’t be here because you’re a haole,’ ” Funicello recalled.

At first, he said he thought he could talk his way out of the situation.

“I finally said, ‘I’ll leave,’ ” he said. “That’s when (co-defendant Elijah Koi) Gold and Pu said it’s too late. They said, ‘You’re going to have to pay.’ ”

Pu grabbed Funicello by his throat and grabbed his ear, shaking him, he said. Funicello said he threw a jab and knocked Pu down.

Then Funicello said he ran and was chased by the other three men. Funicello said he knocked out Gold and the other two men went to tend to him. Thinking the fight was over, Funicello said he went back to the tent to tell Kempton and the children they needed to leave.

Pu was back up and grabbed Funicello by the neck and collar and started kneeing him, he said. Funicello said he punched and grabbed Pu before someone else tackled Funicello from behind and he went down.

He said he was hit and punched in his head, neck, face and forehead, ending up “at the bottom of a dog pile” with other men on top of him.

“The whole time I’m pleading with them to let me go,” he said.

He said he could hear his children screaming.

“No parent should have to do that, fight for their lives in front of their kids,” Funicello said.

Kempton testified she tried to push men off Funicello, who was being assaulted by five or six men.

“They’re grabbing, they’re punching, they’re kicking him in the head,” she said. “And when one guy tired out, another guy would jump in. They were out to get him.”

She said she pleaded with Pu to give them 10 minutes before he told them to leave.

Funicello was disoriented and swaying, she said, and the children were crying.

“It was scary,” she said. “It was a traumatic event for everyone.”

She called 911, and police and medics met them as they were driving away from the park.

Testifying in his defense, Pu said Funicello threw the first punch.

In a conversation between Funicello and Kempton that could be heard during the 911 call, she says she saw Funicello punch Pu, defense attorney Jon Apo told jurors. He said Kempton also is heard telling Funicello, “This shouldn’t have happened. You were lipping off.”

Apo said Funicello’s account “has grown so much” since that night when he told a police officer, “He hit me on the back of the head a few times.”

Pu, who is free after posting a $31,000 bond, is set to be sentenced Aug. 31. The assault conviction carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.

Judge Kirstin Hamman presided over the trial, which began with jury selection May 23.

Charges are pending against Gold, 32. A third suspect named in the indictment hasn’t been arrested.