A Circuit Court jury was asked yesterday to return a verdict of $1.8 million against the city for the crash of a boulder into a Nu'uanu home that killed 26-year-old Dara Onishi four years ago.

Ann Kemp, lawyer for the Onishi family, told the jurors that they should hold the city responsible for a drainage system on Pacific Heights Road that dumped water down the hillside and helped dislodge the boulder that tumbled into the Onishi home on Henry Street.

Kemp said the Onishi family wants the city to "take responsibility" for dumping the drainage water.

But a city lawyer told the jury that the city did not own the drainage system and the boulder that crashed into the home was not in the path of the drainage water.

"Why do bad things happen to these good people?" city Deputy Corporation Counsel Derek Mayeshiro asked. "We don't know."

He said "sometimes things happen, and it's no one's fault."

The jury deliberated briefly after the closing arguments in the three-week trial in Circuit Judge Karen Ahn's courtroom. The panel will resume deliberations Monday.

Onishi was killed the early morning of Aug. 9, 2002, when the boulder estimated to weigh 5 to 10 tons slammed into her bedroom as she was sleeping. The stunning tragedy heightened concerns about boulders and rockslides around O'ahu.

During the trial, the key issue was whether her death is linked to the drainage ditch alongside the city road that channeled rainwater into a pipe that emptied on the Nu'uanu hillside. Both sides presented experts to bolster their position.

Kemp said the city could have directed the rainwater to the city's drainage system down the road but did not want to spend $1 million for the construction and instead chose to have the water dumped down the hill above the Onishi home.

But Mayeshiro said the city didn't construct the ditch or design it. He also said the Onishi family was unable to establish how much water flowed from the pipe down the hillside.

The verdict will require an agreement of at least 10 of the 12 jurors.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.