The man charged with assaulting an Army couple this year at the Waikele Shopping Center will likely avoid a trial by changing his plea in court this morning.

Gerald D. Pa'akaula, 45, was charged with two counts of second-degree assault in the beating of Andrew Dussell and his wife, Dawn. A conviction of second-degree assault carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Pa'akaula had pleaded not guilty, but court officials said he will change that plea and avoid a trial.

The Feb. 19 incident in the shopping center parking lot began as a minor fender-bender that quickly escalated into an alleged assault with racial overtones after Pa'akaula's 16-year-old son allegedly called one of the Dussells a "f------ haole."

A range of pleas could be available to Pa'akaula under Hawai'i's criminal code. They include a plea of guilty as charged, guilty of reduced charges or a plea of no contest.

Pa'akaula is scheduled to change his plea in an 8:30 a.m. hearing before state Circuit Judge Steven Alm.

Defense and prosecution lawyers yesterday declined to discuss details of the plea change.

"I can't discuss it. It's not finalized," said Pa'akaula's lawyer, Todd Eddins. He said his client has been instructed not to speak publicly about the case.

James Fulton, spokesman for the Prosecuting Attorney's Office, also refused to comment on today's hearing or the terms of any plea agreement.

"It's an ongoing case. We can't discuss it," Fulton said. The Dussells likewise could not comment because they are witnesses in a pending case, Fulton said.

Whatever today's outcome, it likely brings an end to the case.

While the boy's mother, Joreen, was at the scene, she was never charged with a crime.

The younger Pa'akaula was charged in Family Court and was earlier sentenced to a year in a youth detention facility.

In the incident, the Dussells' car struck Pa'akaula's parked vehicle. The elder Pa'akaula allegedly punched Andrew Dussell, 26, in the head and face and kicked him while he was on the ground. Pa'akaula also allegedly punched Dawn Dussell, 23, and slammed her to the ground. Injuries to the couple included broken noses, concussions and facial fractures.

DEEP REGRETS

Although some members of the community branded the incident a "hate crime," the prosecutor's office said the incident was motivated by "road rage" and not racial resentment.

"This thing happened because of a traffic accident," Deputy Prosecutor Franklin Pacarro Jr. said after an indictment was returned in the case.

Pa'akaula's wife, Joreen, said in March that her family deeply regretted the incident.

"We're praying for them (the victims) every day, and so is my son," she said then, choking back tears. "I pray that they heal quickly and they know that we are very sorry that this has happened."

She said her son was sorry he directed a racially charged phrase at the Dussells.

"He wished he used another word or didn't even use the word (haole)," Joreen Pa'akaula said. The words were spoken out of frustration and anger by her son, she said.

Pa'akaula's lawyer, Eddins, said in March that the Pa'akaula family "does not have one bone of prejudice in them," adding that Gerald Pa'akaula is half Hawaiian and half Caucasian.

"They certainly regret what has happened to the other family and is grateful the family is OK, but to suggest that there is anything racial about this family and this incident is totally at odds with what transpired that day."

Eddins said Dawn Dussell threw the first blow after she and the teenager exchanged heated words.

"That doesn't necessarily excuse what later transpired, but it needs to be known that things did not start or get out of hand (because of) my client," Eddins said.

LINGERING TENSION

Pa'akaula, a truck driver, has been free on $50,000 bail while awaiting trial in the case.

Jonathan Okamura, an ethnic studies professor at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, said he's not sure a trial in the case would help ease any racial tensions that might exist in Hawai'i.

"Even if it might have led to some discussions, (it's) not necessarily true that these kinds of issues get resolved through this kind of media publicity."

For that to happen, he said, "it takes a much larger discussion ... about providing access to employment and educational opportunities for disadvantaged minorities like Hawaiians, Samoans and Filipinos. The resentment comes from the marginalization of those groups in Hawai'i."

Noel Kent, also a UH-Manoa ethnic studies professor, said it's hard to envision how the larger community would react to a trial, noting that it would likely depend on how the trial itself went.

"It's hard to know how the trial would have played out," Kent said. "The trial may have been even more polarizing in some ways. It was very hard to unpackage what really went on with this assault."

Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.