Suspect in Death of Former Deputy City Attorney Pleads Not Guilty

Gerald Galaway, suspected by authorities to be responsible for the Sept. 1 of former Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz and Capitola deputy district attorney Celestial Cassman, pleaded not guilty this morning to charges of second-degree murder, kidnapping and attempted first-degree sexual assault, according to Hawaii News Now.

The arraignment took place in Maui's second circuit court located in Wailuku, Hawaii.

Galaway, a 38-year-old Santa Cruz resident who traveled to Maui on vacation with Cassman earlier this month, was arrested on Monday and has been held on no bail since his release from Maui Memorial Hospital. Galaway was hospitalized due to non-life threatening injuries sustained after the suspect jumped off a 100-foot cliff following confrontation by police on scene, according to media reports.

Police have reported that the results of an autopsy of Cassman's body show she of asphyxiation, according to a report from The Maui News.

Maui prosecutor Robert D. Rivera described Cassman's killing in as being conducted in "an especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner."

According to Hawaii News Now, a witness seeing a man and woman suspected to be Galaway and Cassman transition an argument from a car on to the street. According to the witness, the man threw the woman on the ground.

Police reports document Cassman's body being found close to the 38-mile mark of the Kahekili Highway at 6:20 p.m.

On Monday, Cassman was remembered by friends at a private vigil on Santa Cruz's Seabright State Beach, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported.

Cassman was also an attorney who worked at the Santa Cruz law firm of Atchison, Barisone, Condotti & Kovacevich, the same firm of Half Moon Bay City Attorney Tony Condotti.

See the video of Galaway's arraignment Tuesday morning by clicking on the video in the media box to the right.

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