The state Department of Education is set to pay a quarter-million-dollar settlement in a 2021 case brought by a Big Island family alleging the agency failed to protect a female student from repeated sexual assault on a public protect school campus.
Lawmakers in both the State House and Senate will consider bills in this session that include a request from the Department of Attorney General to allocate $250,000 in general proceeds to settle the litigation. The disbursement, if approved, is among the $1.22 million requested at this meeting to resolve claims against the state, its officials or employees.
The civil complaint, filed in Third Circuit Court in March 2021 and later filed in U.S. District Court, alleged that between November 2018 and February 26, 2019, a male Konawaena High School student repeatedly sexually assaulted, sexually abused, molested and/ or bullied a minor attending Konawaena Middle School on the high school campus.
The lawsuit further alleged that the defendants — the state Department of Education, the Board of Education, now-retired Konawaena High School principal Shawn Suzuki, and other unnamed parties — were made aware that at least one injunction was pending against the male student prior to November 2018 who alleges the same wrongdoing as the victim in the 2021 lawsuit.
Despite knowledge, the defendants took no action to protect the students from the male student, according to the lawsuit. As a result, the underage victim “was repeatedly assaulted in building ‘E’ by KHS,” according to the complaint.
The civil complaint outlined more than half a dozen charges or causes of action, including violations of Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fourteenth Amendment, which offers equivalent protections under the US Constitution, and allegations of negligence. Prior to the settlement, Suzuki saw that the Title IX violations were dismissed in his official and individual capacity, as well as several counts of charges in his individual capacity.
A “conditional settlement” was announced during a settlement conference hearing Jan. 5 in the US District Court in Honolulu. The June 26 jury trial is now off the table, according to federal court filings.
House Bill 979 and Senate Bill 1277 were introduced on January 23 and 25 respectively and passed their chambers on first readings. The measures still had to be assigned to committees at the time of going to press on Sunday.
It is West Hawaii Today’s policy not to identify victims of sexual assault. The newspaper does not publish the victim’s name or initials, nor the name of the plaintiff, in the lawsuit in order to protect the identity of the minor.
Although the man accused of the sex crimes is not named in the lawsuit, the minor’s guardian confirmed to West Hawaii Today that he is Justin Mariano, who was charged with sexual assault in three separate criminal counts in 2019, including one in which the victim involved was a civil suit that lawmakers are considering providing funds to settle.
Mariano was found fit to stand trial in all three cases this fall after spending over two years at Hawaii State Hospital after a Kona Circuit Court judge found him unfit and a danger to the community on February 28, 2020. Three trials The dates remain fixed: March 7th, March 28th and May 16th, each victim has their own trial.
Bail remains at $20,000, which was posted when Mariano was arrested, with release to house arrest with conditions including electronic surveillance.
Court records indicate that Mariano was aware of the victims’ mental abilities. If convicted, Mariano faces up to 20 years for each first-degree sexual assault, ten years for each second-degree sexual assault, and five years for third-degree sexual assault.