Michael Hirokawa took the stand today to convince the jury he's not guilty of attempted murder, sex assault, and kidnapping.
HONOLULU (KITV4) -- Michael Hirokawa said he remembers nothing after drinking wine with a woman he met just hours before at a Honolulu bar.
"After the wine, I don't remember that chunk of time."
He took the stand today to convince a jury he's not guilty of attempted murder, sex assault, and kidnapping.
It was November 2020 when Hirokawa invited the Chicago woman to his home at Capitol Place.
He says he had no intention of having sexual relations with her and didn't even recognize her when she testified earlier this month against him in court.
"I'm saying I don't know if I had sex with Ms. Park," Hirokawa said. "If she wanted to have sex, consensual sex, I was not against it."
But what he does remember of that night are flashes of feeling trapped and afraid.
"I just see myself hitting a wall," he said. "I don't know if I was fighting for my life cause someone's trying to kill me or fighting for my life cause I need to escape, that's the best way I could explain that feeling."
Hirokawa claims the woman drugged him after lab tests found the sedative Ambien and hallucinogenic drug LSD in his wine glass.
"It is significant that Mr. Hirokawa testified, but his testimony was required in this case," said Honolulu defense attorney Megan Kau. "He had to testify he did not voluntarily ingest the acid and the Ambien. And that because he was under the influence of these drugs he did not act voluntarily."
Kristen joined KITV4 in March 2021 after working for the past two decades as a newspaper reporter. Kristen's goal is to produce meaningful journalism that educates, enlightens and inspires to affect positive change in society.
