Makua Beach supporters cheer defendant in court

http://archives.starbulletin.com/96/08/22/news/briefs.html

Makua Beach supporters cheer defendant in court

District Judge Ambrose Rosehill will issue a written decision in the next several weeks in the first Makua Beach eviction case to go to trial.

Richard Kinney, 57, was among more than a dozen people arrested for refusing to leave Makua Beach when the state cleared the area with heavy equipment June 18. More than 300 people had lived there before the state posted eviction notices in March.

Many of those arrested attended yesterday’s proceedings in Waianae District Court, along with about 30 supporters. They cheered during portions of the two-hour trial and waved signs supporting their cause along Farrington Highway.

Kinney’s attorney, Dana Ishibashi, argued the state had no right to arrest his client because Kinney is a native Hawaiian and the beach area was illegally seized by the federal government after the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893.