HONOLULU — An Oʻahu man charged with murder in the shooting death of his wife’s lover should be locked up because of his wealth and the danger he poses to his family, a prosecutor said.
Honolulu prosecutors filed a motion this week asking a judge to revoke Eric Thompson’s $1 million bail. Thompson posted bail and was released after he was arrested on Valentine's Day, but prosecutors said that after he was indicted last week and now faces trial, he’s more likely than he was before to try to flee.
Prosecutors said Thompson shot acupuncturist Jon Tokuhara four times in the face in January because he found out his wife and Tokuhara had a sexual relationship.
The “cold-blood” killing was calculated, prosecutors said.
Tokuhara had been treating Joyce Thompson for back pain and fertility issues, police said.
Eric Thompson owns a home worth more than $2 million in the upscale Honolulu neighborhood of Kahala and has a bathtub accessibility modification business, the motion said.
“Defendant sought to end his feeling of betrayal by ending Jon Tokuhara’s life. But Defendant’s wife, Joyce, is still in risk of danger, as are her family, and anyone else Defendant views as responsible,” a prosecutor wrote in the no-bail motion.
After learning of the affair in July, Thompson forbade his wife from seeing Tokuhara and her siblings, the motion said. Thompson wrongly believed his brother-in-law and sister-in-law knowingly facilitated the affair by babysitting the Thompsons' 1-year-old child when Joyce Thompson went to see Tokuhara, the document said.
“These individuals are persistently in danger,” the motion said.
Eric Thompson has followed all bail conditions, his attorney, David Hayakawa, said Wednesday.
“The state is just upset that he was able to post bail,” Hayakawa said.
If prosecutors believed Thompson was a danger or could flee then they should have requested that he be held without bail earlier, the defense attorney said.
Thompson will plead not guilty at an arraignment scheduled for Thursday, Hayakawa said.
