Retirees form jury of 2, assessing Kealoha trial evidence from the gallery

Jun. 23--Richard Farina usually sits on one side of the courtroom, pj Silva on the other.

Until recently, the two retirees didn't know each other.

But their fascination with one of the biggest public corruption trials in Hawaii history brought them to the same fourth-floor federal courtroom a few weeks ago, and they've returned every day of the trial since.

Farina, 63, and Silva, 75, expect to show up again Tuesday when closing arguments are presented in the case against former Honolulu Deputy Prosecutor Katherine Kealoha; her husband, retired Honolulu

Police Chief Louis Kealoha; and three current and former police officers.

With the exception of the first day for Silva and the first two for Farina, the retirees have attended every day of the 16-day trial at U.S. District Court in Honolulu.

Both catch the bus from their homes -- Makiki for Silva, the Ala Moana area for Farina -- to get to the courthouse.

Silva, a retired hospitality and nonprofit community service worker, said he keeps showing up for one reason: "curiosity."

Farina, a retired longshoreman from New Jersey, has become a veteran watcher of high-profile criminal trials.

He sat through the 2013 and 2014 trials of Christopher Deedy, the federal agent who was charged with killing Kollin Elderts during an early morning altercation in Waikiki in 2011. The first trial ended in a hung jury, the second in a murder

acquittal, though jurors were deadlocked on manslaughter.

Farina also sat through the trial last year of former Kailua dentist Lilly Geyer, who was acquitted on charges related to the death of a 3-year-old patient. The girl died following a root canal procedure.

He said he wants to hear and see for himself the evidence jurors assess in reaching a verdict so he doesn't have to rely on media coverage to evaluate the outcome.

"I want to be in court and see where it came from," he said. "I don't want to read someone else's version."

Farina also likes to observe how the lawyers perform in the courtroom. The best ones, he said, are masters at what they do.

"It's like watching a great artist painting an oil painting," Farina explained.

This isn't the first time Silva has sat through a trial. He was jury foreman in an insurance fraud case in federal court about 20 years ago. Silva and his fellow jurors convicted the three defendants.

For the Kealoha trial, the pair said they have come to the courtroom with an open mind, intent on listening to the witnesses and evaluating the evidence as if they were on the jury.

They say they have no connection to the case and don't know any of the lawyers or defendants.

Both have been present for the testimony of the vast majority of the 70-plus witnesses, and the two

retirees often discuss the day's proceedings while walking to the bus stop on the way home.

"In our own way, pj and I are our own little jury,"

Farina said.

Although the prosecution and defense have rested their cases, the two men aren't willing to say how they would vote if they were on the jury.

The closing arguments are still to come and could be critical for such a complicated case, they said, adding the attorneys need to connect all the dots.

"Is the jury going to be able to fill in the blanks?" Silva said.

The two trial watchers believe the lawyers on both sides have done well, but they say prosecutors have presented a stronger case, even though the evidence is circumstantial.

"They got what they needed from their witnesses, and I don't think the defense did anything to take that away," Silva said. "Whereas the defense witnesses, I think they hurt themselves more than they helped because whatever they tried to put up from the defense side, the prosecutors pretty well ripped it out."

The two men agreed with U.S. District Chief Judge J. Michael Seabright's comment during the trial that conspiracy cases almost

always rely on circumstan­tial evidence.

In their assessment, the strongest evidence has been against Katherine

Kealoha, the central figure in the case.

The Kealohas, along with Lt. Derek Wayne Hahn, officer Minh-Hung "Bobby" Nguyen and retired Maj. Gordon Shiraishi, are charged with conspiring to frame Katherine Kealoha's uncle, Gerard Puana, for the alleged theft of the couple's Kahala mailbox in 2013 and lying to federal investigators about their actions.

Prosecutors say the defendants were trying to undermine Puana because of a lawsuit he and his mother, Florence Puana, had filed in state court against Katherine Kealoha. The Puanas

accused Kealoha of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from them. The court sided with Kealoha.

Given that jurors in criminal trials have to be unanimous with their verdicts, Silva and Farina foresee some tough deliberations ahead for the Kealoha jury.

The two even have had difficulty reaching agreement.

"We're not having an easy time coming to a

conclusion one way or the other," Farina said. "It's not rock solid."

Added Silva: "You never know how the jury is going to see it."

There has been one

matter, though, in which the two reached agreement quickly.

Given the cast of characters and salacious details that have emerged from the federal probe, including allegations of drug

dealing, bank fraud and a sexual affair, they predict the Kealoha case will eventually make its way to the silver screen.

"We both have discussed the fact that this is going to turn into a movie," Silva said.

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