WAILUKU — In a case that a deputy prosecutor said shows how domestic violence affects the community, a Haliimaile man was found guilty Tuesday of abusing a woman who was dragged by a noose into a Kipahulu forest and of punching a driver who tried to intervene.

A 2nd Circuit Court jury convicted Graden J. Miguel, 43, of felony abuse by strangulation, abuse, unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle and third-degree assault. Instead of first-degree unlawful imprisonment, he was found guilty of a lesser charge of second-degree unlawful imprisonment.
“This case is an example of how domestic violence affects the whole community,” Deputy Prosecutor Melinda Mendes said. “There wasn't just one victim here. Although his girlfriend didn't want to pursue charges, this case involves a bystander who also ended up getting injured. Unfortunately, the defendant did these actions with his kids present.”
Miguel was arrested at about 10 p.m. Nov. 9 after Hana patrol officers went to Alalele Bridge in Kipahulu, responding to a report of a woman in distress.
Kipahulu farmer Corey Law called police after encountering Miguel while driving home.
First he saw a female, child and dog on the side of the road in a dark area. A short while later, he saw a pickup truck driven by Miguel, who asked if Law had seen his wife and children.
Law reported hearing someone twice crying for help from the bed of the pickup before Miguel drove away. A short time later, in another encounter between the two men, Law said he was sitting in his truck, with his seat belt on, when he was punched twice by Miguel.
Near the bridge, officer John Akana saw Miguel's pickup truck parked with motorcycles, a cooler and empty beer cans in the bed. In the dark, officers walked along a river bed and thick vegetation in the valley. Akana was nearly at the end of the trail when he saw a flicker of light from behind a tree.
It turned out the light was from Miguel's headlamp. Eventually, he and then-girlfriend Jenny Williams emerged. She had blood around her mouth and face and seemed to be crying, Akana said. He said Miguel held a piece of rope that he handed to Williams before being handcuffed.
Testifying during the trial, Williams said the rope was tied in a noose around her neck, with Miguel holding the other end as they walked into the forest. The 31-year-old said the rope wasn't tight around her neck but would get tighter and looser at times.
Dr. Robert Mastroianni, who saw Williams in his Pukalani clinic the next morning, described ligature marks around her neck consistent with being dragged by a rope. There were similar injuries to her wrists, as well as bruises on her face, body, arms and legs, Mastroianni said.
She described being tied with rope around her wrists and ankles and being beaten severely on her torso, face, arms and legs, Mastroianni said. He said Williams also said she managed to free herself and get out of the truck while it was moving before she was caught and retied, then dragged into the forest.
Williams testified that she and Miguel were drunk, and she didn't remember what had happened earlier in the evening, although she believed her feet had been bound.
“I vaguely remember being in the back of the truck,” she testified. “I remember being tied up and getting my hands free and jumping out of the truck. That's all I remember.”
Williams, Miguel and his three children had spent the day in Hana.
As the trial was beginning June 1, 2nd Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza ordered Miguel to have no direct or indirect contact with Williams. But from the Maui Community Correctional Center the next evening, Miguel called his 13-year-old son and directed the boy to call Williams, the youth testified. He said he was talking to his father on one telephone and using a cellular telephone to call Williams, leaving a message on her cell phone.
“I'm talking to dad right now, and he said to hang in there and don't let the prosecution get to you . . . and to not testify,” the boy said in the message played for the jury. “He said he loves you and will see you on Thursday.”
In closing arguments Monday, defense attorney Byron Fujieda said Miguel wasn't guilty of the felony abuse and imprisonment charges. Miguel didn't know he was cutting off Williams’ circulation with the rope, Fujieda said. He said some of her injuries resulted from her twice jumping out of the truck.
Fujieda said Miguel was defending himself against Law, who with his truck had hit Miguel.
Miguel is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 27.
According to the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center, he has two prior convictions for abuse in 2008 and 1998, as well as convictions for drunken driving, inattention to driving, contempt of court and racing on a highway.