When Eugene Ruiz and Patricia Sumblin decided to live together as lovers, he told her he didn't want to be a father to her three kids or share responsibility for them. Defendant says he shook
child out of concernBut Ruiz also testified yesterday in his murder trial that he didn't shake, harm or sexually abuse her 2-year-old son, Tyler, who died Oct. 12, 1995, of a brain hemorrhage from being shaken.
He said he sternly urged Sumblin to take her son to the doctor when his scrotum was swollen, but gave up after Sumblin decided to wait. He said she was worried a visit might alert the state, already investigating her for child abuse.
"I should have pressed her more," he said before Circuit Court jurors.
The state has accused Ruiz, 25, of shaking Tyler to death when he was left alone with the boy in their Kaneohe apartment.
But the defense blames Sumblin, saying she was angry at her son and shook him before she left for the store.
Medical experts testified that severe shaking usually causes death immediately, but that death can occur up to 30 minutes after an incident.
A man suspected of committing a series of bank robberies while eluding police and the FBI has left Hawaii for a federal prison hospital in Missouri, the FBI said. Silva on his way
to psychiatric examWallace Silva, 43, suspected in at least six bank robberies since May, will undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
Officials say Silva routinely evaded arrest after the bank robberies, sometimes by pedaling away on a bicycle, hailing a taxi cab or catching a bus.
Officials suspect he robbed two or three banks in the same week, sometimes only a day apart.
Silva was in FBI custody following a May 29 robbery when his bicycle was hit by a car while he allegedly fled a robbery scene at Bank of Hawaii's Discovery Bay branch.He was taken to Queen's Hospital, where doctors said Silva would need to be confined for several weeks for a collapsed lung. Silva walked out of the hospital
the next day and was a suspect in four bank robberies in June, a robbery of the Marc Suites Waikiki Royal Hotel and an attempted robbery at Sears Ala Moana.
He was caught on June 24, when, after a bank robbery, he returned to his girlfriend's home at Mayor Wright Housing, where police and FBI agents were waiting for him.
That same day Silva appeared in a federal courtroom before Magistrate Barry Kurren.
Kurren ordered Silva to undergo a psychiatric evaluation at a federal prison hospital in Springfield, Mo.
He had been held at Halawa Correctional Facility after his court appearance, awaiting transport to Missouri, said U.S. Marshal Anne Kent.
Silva is in the custody of the U.S. marshals service, she said.
Kent said it may take a while for Silva to reach Missouri.
Some prisoners fly from Hawaii to California and stay there a few days awaiting a connecting flight.
Some prisoners are taken to the marshal's transfer center in Oklahoma before they are sent to their assigned federal facility.
"The route is never necessarily the same, and we'd like to keep it that way," Kent said.
WAILUKU -- A native Hawaiian cultural specialist has declined to participate in the blessing tomorrow of a multimillion-dollar telescope on Haleakala because it has become a shining "blight" on a serene mountain. Telescope a 'blight,'
cultural specialist saysCharles Maxwell said when he took a cultural monitoring position with the Air Force Phillips Laboratory, he was informed the reflective finish would make the telescope nearly invisible. "As we all know, this has not happened," Maxwell said.
Arthur La Rose, an administrator at Phillips Laboratory, declined comment.
"We're not responding to that. He's obliged to his opinion," La Rose said.
During a ceremony tomorrow at 11 a.m. on Haleakala, the Air Force will be blessing one of the largest telescopes in the world.
The 3.67-meter telescope, known as the Advanced Electro-Optical System, will more than double the size of the next-largest telescope on the complex and enable Air Force Space Command to view and track satellites.
The $150 million project includes a 41,000-square-foot facility that houses the 120-ton telescope, with a 90-foot-diameter retractable dome.
People who file for divorce, separation or annulment actions now are required to pay a $35 surcharge. The surcharge is not imposed on anyone who has received a waiver of filing or if neither party has a minor child. Split couples with kids
to pay $35 surchargeThe surcharge will be used to fund a statewide educational program for separating parents. The program focuses on reducing the harm that parental separation has on children, avoiding disputes over custody and visitation rights and developing healthy post-separation relationships.
"The court also hopes that parents who participate in this program will be more open to settling out of court, or spend less time in court if they do go on to trial," said Family Court Judge Douglas McNish. According to the state Judiciary, 49.9 percent of marital-action cases statewide during 1995-96 involved children.
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Police/Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffPolice yesterday charged a 17-year-old Village Park boy as a juvenile for first-degree criminal property damage stemming from a gang-related incident May 23 in Kalihi. Youth charged
for damaging carThe youth and three other gang members allegedly caused damage to a car at Kaua and Middle streets. A 17-year-old Salt Lake girl, who was seated in her boyfriend's car, was not injured.
The incident was a retaliatory act against the girl's boyfriend, who is reportedly a member of a different gang, police said.
Police said the suspect is considered a serious juvenile offender by Family Court. He is currently being held at the Alder Street detention facility.
Other Police/Fire headlines
in today’s Star-Bulletin:
- Man held for threatening wife
- Stolen teller machine found
- Six nabbed for drunken driving
See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
See our [Info] section for subscription information.
