Watanabe's father still has questions

Newsflash! Defense attorneys will say whatever it takes to win. No different than prosecutors.

Take a few hours and go to court. The ones on Alakea or Halekauwila are probably the best but every now and then the smaller ones on either side of the island are good too (and easier for park).

Hard to understand, especially if you or someone you care about is the victim, but police officers, attorneys (defense and prosecution) and judges know this is how it's done and it is never personal. Everyone has a job.

The criminal works not get caught.

The police work to catch the criminal.

The lawyers work to either aquit or convict.

The judges work to make sure everything is fair.

In the end, everybody, sometimes even the criminal, shakes hands and goes back to work.

Personally, I could not be a criminal defense attorney. They are usually looked upon as being somewhere between a snake and used car salesperson - until you need one.

The jury did not do its job. They reached their verdict based on emotions and sympathy for the Watanabe's. They are supposed to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and even though they didn't "buy" his story, his version did corroborate with all the witnesses' testimonies, and the prosecution never gave a plausible version or hard evidence of what really happened.
I am not related to anynone in the case and I feel just as bad for the Watanabes as everyone else, but it's really just my opinion. There is some reasonable doubt in my mind that the Lankford did not kill Masumi. Sorry to offend everyone in this post, but again, it's just my opinion, and I haven't read anything that has made me change my mind.

Pali is correct. Lankford was advised by his attorney to tailor his story to fit the facts theat were known. It did not work. The worm goes to prison.

cnn wrote:

Mrs. Watanabe not turning away Lankford's wife at the funeral is not an unusual act for Japanese people. In general, the Japanese people (the ones from Japan) are the most respectful, compassionate, and forgiving people in the world. They redefine the word "Aloha".

This is very true. The Japanese are ultra polite and the bravery and courtesy shown by the Watanabes is remarkable. Their willingness to accept the Lankford family members at Masumi's service is a testimony to their strength, especially as the memorial service was held before the jury's decision was reached and publicized the following day. That all being said, I encourage the Watanabes to follow through and seek acivil penalties suit--the Lankford family may not have much financial wealth, but the benefit of seeking civil damages will help to compensate for some loss and may also help deter future crimes like this if fathers, mothers, wives, hubands or other family members of sociopaths fear what their actions may do to harm their livelihoods. I wonder if this is what Lankford's lawyer may have though in allowing the father and wife of his client to attend Masumi's funeral? I would hope they chose to attend out of honest remorse.

lone holdout wrote:

The jury did not do its job. They reached their verdict based on emotions and sympathy for the Watanabe's. They are supposed to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and even though they didn't "buy" his story, his version did corroborate with all the witnesses' testimonies, and the prosecution never gave a plausible version or hard evidence of what really happened.
I am not related to anynone in the case and I feel just as bad for the Watanabes as everyone else, but it's really just my opinion. There is some reasonable doubt in my mind that the Lankford did not kill Masumi. Sorry to offend everyone in this post, but again, it's just my opinion, and I haven't read anything that has made me change my mind.

The burden is beyond a REASONABLE DOUBT. Not ALL DOUBT. Sure, there is no body to show what happened but that is because Lankford destroyed the evidence. If you cannot get a conviction without the body, every murderer would make sure there was no body found. Like the Holloway case in Aruba.

lone holdout wrote:

The jury did not do its job. They reached their verdict based on emotions and sympathy for the Watanabe's. They are supposed to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and even though they didn't "buy" his story, his version did corroborate with all the witnesses' testimonies, and the prosecution never gave a plausible version or hard evidence of what really happened.
I am not related to anynone in the case and I feel just as bad for the Watanabes as everyone else, but it's really just my opinion. There is some reasonable doubt in my mind that the Lankford did not kill Masumi. Sorry to offend everyone in this post, but again, it's just my opinion, and I haven't read anything that has made me change my mind.

If you actually believe the contrived defense put forth, he is still guilty of murder by act of omission. Who in his right mind would not try to help someone injured accidentally--I think this is the biggest reason we MUST prosecute this person to the fullest extent. If he did nothing to help this poor child and allowed her to die it is, to me, just as heinous as an act of comission (full intent to harm someone without remorse) Trying to cover up your actions cannot be socially allowed. Lankford needs to come clean now and ease the pain of the Watanabe family by being truthful.

sweet, shy oriental women need to be warned. a few years ago my waikiki daughter had an experience which was scary. they smelled smoke outside their condo and encountered a young japanese girl who was "out of it" scared, drugged and hallucinating, she kept lighting matches or something to ward off imagined spirits. she couldn't speak english at all, only cried that a "bad man" was trying to kill her. the ambulance took her away but this girl had a journal on her which implimented someone in a certain unit in the building. the lady in that unit "knew nothing". apparently what happened there is that someone in hawaii promised to marry the lady and brought her over, but took all her savings, drugged, abused and dumped her. the fear is that such a ring exists of men that do this stuff to vulnerable trusting japanese young women. i hope that the older local japanese locals are on the alert for that scam.

He will never reveal it. The body might provide evidence that would show what a lier Lankford is. That would prevent Wilkerson from filing appeals.

They teach you in law school that the law is amoral, and that the duty of an attorney is to represent his client in the most effective way possible. Truth is often a casualty.
Wilkerson exemplifies this.

Lankford became an icon of human wickedness. And Wilkerson isn't far behind. When the jury delievered it's verdict, Wilkerson blamed the media. It was clear he was just avoid the responsibility. Lankford had a violent history before the unfortunate encounter with Watanabe. But in court, Wilkerson tried to make his client a hero and the victim by claiming Watanabe fatally leaped out of Lankford's truck while Lankford was trying to save her. That's as far-fetched as can be. The jury didn't buy it.

Wilkerson currently plans to ask the Supreme Court to overturn the verdict. What a sore loser. Lankford never had credibility to begin with because he kept changing his story, and wouldn't be surprised if in the future, he came up with several other ones regarding Watanabe.

it's good to see justice done in this case but i recently saw past unsolved murders in hawaii and read a case where a woman was found partially clothed, beaten, and murdered. someone had seen a man at the site the body was found and was questioned, told a fake name, who turned out to be lankford. did it cross anyones mind lankford may be tied to that murder as well? how ironic it is while he is on trial for watanabe's murder that story comes up and he is the person at that particular site at that time....

susan wrote:

it's good to see justice done in this case but i recently saw past unsolved murders in hawaii and read a case where a woman was found partially clothed, beaten, and murdered. someone had seen a man at the site the body was found and was questioned, told a fake name, who turned out to be lankford. did it cross anyones mind lankford may be tied to that murder as well? how ironic it is while he is on trial for watanabe's murder that story comes up and he is the person at that particular site at that time....

Gee, what a coincidence that this loser shows up whenever there's a dead body. Good detective work there, Susan!

I also saw another story about how Lankford lured another Japanese tourist into his truck and assaulted her. At least she lived to tell about it. But I understand that she dropped the charges and went back to Japan. I'll bet you that her family and friends don't vacation in Hawaii anymore! Can't blame them!

Lankford cited that he feared the loss of his 75K a year job if he had reported being involved in the alleged accident with Ms. Watanabe to his pest control company....

....I'm curious as to learn what the thought process of Mr. Lankford's mind was, as well as his morality, in fathoming the delusion that he'd remain employed, let alone having to explain himself to authorities, by the choices of his actions in deciding how to dispose of the victim...

If the case were such that Mr. Lankford DID simply have a traffic accident in which aid was rendered, then reporting it to the authorities would not only be the legal and right way, it might've preserved his freedom, his job...and the life of the truly innocent person in this matter...MASUMI.

It would be really interesting to know what Lankford's childhood was like.

I am wondering if he drove from pupukea, because he wanted to help her then why didn't he stop at Kahuku Hospital? Then he said he put her in the water off Kualoa park ( The water all alone that park in most times less.......... than one foot deep for more than 100 feet out!!) The trades are most times hard onshore...! Nothing is going to sink and nothing is going to float off shore....! If he had even stood there for a moment even he would have been able to see that. I don't think he really tried to do that. Ok, he said he was at the park, He most definitely did not try to move her in the day time, the park is very active all day at least until about 7p. So he must have waited until dark, until they locked the main gate and waited until very late at night. Then, if he said that he was at the shore line, then he must have meant the opposite so he went where it was even darker. On the mauka side of the park there in a forest, how much time did the police spend in that forest at Kualoa park ? Check again!