Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL HomeLankford Jurors Visit Pupukea Amid Tension Between Attorneys

Lankford Jurors Visit Pupukea Amid Tension Between Attorneys

By Leland Kim

PUPUKEA (KHNL) --  Jurors in the Kirk Lankford trial toured a several-mile radius of Pupukea Friday. Prosecutors accuse the 22-year-old former pest control employee of killing 21-year-old Japanese tourist Masumi Watanabe.

Things got pretty heated between the defense and prosecuting attorneys.  They disagreed about the exact location of a pest control customer's house, and pretty much why they were out there in the first place.

A clear morning at a Pupukea grocery store where jurors in the Kirk Lankford trial met. They came to examine the places Lankford was on the day Watanabe disappeared.

The first site was up Pupukea Road, on Maulukua Road.  For confidentiality reasons we are not allowed to show the jurors on camera.

The purpose of the trip is to give them a better sense what prosecutors believe happened on April 12, 2007, the day Watanabe disappeared.

At the second site, Lankford's attorney Donald Wilkerson raised some objections.

"I would like to note for the record that site #1 by this camera in particular filmed one of the vans with jurors inside," he said.

"There are court rules prohibiting photograph of jurors, and we have already had a meeting with the media regarding these rules," said Judge Karl Sakamoto, with the First Circuit Court.

The morning session ended at site number 4. Many members of the jury took notes as they surveyed each location.

Then the afternoon session continued at a house where Lankford did pest control work.  His movement the day Watanabe disappeared was tracked by a work global positioning system.

"You just stated we're at 59366 Pupukea road, the Talboy's residence," said Wilkerson. "In fact we're at 59572 Pupukea Road.  I would object to this viewing. Mr. Carlisle doesn't even know where 59366 is."

"I know were the Talboys' residence is," said Honolulu prosecutor Peter Carlisle. "It's right there."

"So for clarification, we're here because of this being the Talboy's residence," said Judge Sakamoto. "The actual address is in dispute again will resolve once we get back to court."

And jurors also head back to court, continuing to go over all the evidence in this emotionally charged case.

Friday's last scheduled stop was at Kahana Bay, where a homeless man says he caught Lankford digging a hole the night Watanabe disappeared.

The trial continues Monday.