Niall Silva, who was the first Honolulu police officer to plead guilty to conspiracy in the alleged framing of Gerard Puana, took the witness stand Tuesday in the ongoing trial of Louis and Katherine Kealoha.
Silva testified that he falsified police reports, lied during Puana’s criminal trial in December 2014 and deceived both the FBI and a federal grand jury about his role in the alleged frame job.
He also discussed his reaction to seeing Puana for the first time on Dec. 4, 2014 when he testified against him at his criminal trial for stealing the Kealohas’ mailbox.
Retired Honolulu police officer Niall Silva, seen here in 2016, has already pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy.
Cory Lum/Civil Beat
Silva was one of the Honolulu police officers who reviewed surveillance video of the alleged June 21, 2013 theft the day after it occurred.
He said he was told the guy in the video was Puana, but he never actually saw him until the day he testified at his criminal trial in U.S. District Court more than a year later.
“I was very upset because when I saw Gerard Puana who was the supposed suspect … I was like that is not him,” Silva said. “My heart sank.”
“Why did your heart sink?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Wheat asked.
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“Because I perpetuated a lie and it was against somebody who was not guilty,” Silva said.
The Kealohas are accused of framing Puana for the theft of their mailbox as a way to settle a family score over money and hide their own financial crimes.
Puana is Katherine Kealoha’s uncle and had filed a lawsuit against her alleging she had bilked him and his mother, Florence Puana, out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
At the time, Kealoha was a top prosecutor at the city and her husband the chief of the Honolulu Police Department.
When Puana was put on trial for alleged mailbox theft Silva was the first witness called by prosecutors. But while on the stand in 2014 he admitted to falsifying police reports while he was being cross examined by Puana’s public defender, Alexander Silvert.
The case was eventually dismissed with prejudice after Louis Kealoha caused a mistrial by inappropriately revealing details about Puana’s criminal past.
The FBI launched its own investigation into the Kealohas shortly thereafter.
The post ‘My Heart Sank’: Former HPD Officer Details His Part In Mailbox Conspiracy appeared first on Honolulu Civil Beat.