Judge Loo celebrates after wrapping up her final case Friday morning. — The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
WAILUKU — Although her last day on the bench was Friday, 2nd Circuit Judge Rhonda Loo isn’t retiring in the traditional sense of the word.
“I’m ‘re-tirin’ myself by putting brand new tires on me, pumped up full of air with shiny new hubcaps,” Loo said. “I’m ready for my next 100,000 miles. I’m ready for the next adventure. I’m not being stagnant or stale but going forward and onward.”
After 24 years as a judge, starting in 1997 in District Court and including the last decade in 2nd Circuit Court, Loo said “it was such a hard decision” not to seek retention for another 10-year term.
“Being a judge has been one of the most heartwarming experiences in my life,” she said.
“But it’s only a small chapter in the Book of Rhonda. I think I have many, many more chapters — many more countries to visit, golf courses to play on, ukulele to strum, hula to dance, weddings to perform, fur babies to spoil.”
Judge Rhonda Loo is sworn in as a Circuit Court judge in 2011. — The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
Loo became the first woman to serve as a 2nd Circuit Court judge when she was appointed to the position by then-Gov. Neil Abercrombie in 2011.
The following year, she spearheaded the effort to open the Self-Help Center at Hoapili Hale, the state courthouse building in Wailuku. The program has since expanded to two days a week, with volunteer attorneys providing legal information to self-represented litigants in district and family court civil matters.
In sentencing defendants over the years, Loo has been known to hand down messages laced with wit “to make an impression.”
“I know people make mistakes, we all do, it’s OK,” she said. “Just don’t do it a second time or a third. A lot of people don’t realize their mistakes affect their spouses and their children and their parents. I’m just hopeful that people learn. I just want them to better themselves.
“That’s why I kind of scold them.”
Retiring 2nd Circuit Court Judge Rhonda Loo waves to the gallery in her courtroom after finishing her last case Friday morning. — The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
Sentencing a man who set fire to a canoe hale at Hoaloha Park in Kahului, she said, “With the flick of your BIC, the hale’s roof was lit.”
“I don’t know about the laws in your neighborhood, Mister Rogers,” she told another defendant whose last name was Rogers. “But in my neighborhood, you follow the law.”
“Who let the dogs out? The ‘who’ is you, you, you,” she said to a woman who let loose a pit bull that attacked police officers.
In 2019, after a young man said he was going to the store to buy soda when he was stopped for driving a stolen car without a license, Loo asked if the soda made him do it, then asked what kind of soda he was addicted to.
When he answered Pepsi, she suggested he not drink Pepsi and placed him on probation.
Second Circuit Judge Rhonda Loo wields an oversized gavel that was a gift when she was appointed to be a judge in 1997. — NADINE GOMES photo
In a tweet, then a full-page ad in The Maui News, Pepsi responded to the judge’s comments.
“We object!” the company said. “Stealing cars is not OK. However, Pepsi is more than OK.
“We’d like a second chance to prove we’re delicious beyond a reasonable doubt. We’re prepared to enter some Pepsi into evidence. We think you’ll find our case quite refreshing.”
In another case, Loo ordered a man to write 144 compliments to his former girlfriend after he violated an order for protection by calling and sending her “nasty” text messages 144 times.
“It’s so easy to text mean things,” Loo said. “It’s harder to say things in person.”
Huffington Post called about that case. And domestic violence agencies on the Mainland wrote to say “thank you for a very appropriate sentence,” Loo said.
The judge said she doesn’t plan what she says in court, but listens to defendants’ words and attorneys’ arguments. She draws on what she observes and learns as a “voracious reader” who looks through the newspaper every morning and watches the news.
“Life experiences just come out of my mouth,” she said. “If I can get my point across to whoever the defendant is that their behavior is wrong and they can be in sync with me, they can do better.”
Some defendants have approached her in the community and have given her a hug while reporting they’re doing better and working.
A few have returned to her courtroom to deliver similar messages.
At a Maui Drug Court graduation, one woman thanked Loo for helping her on the path to recovery by revoking her bail after she had posted it to be released.
“Sometimes you touch someone in the right way,” Loo said.
She has heard from sheriff’s deputies transporting inmates to her courtroom that some call her “Rhonda the Riddler” or “Honey Badger.”
“They want to know if I’m in a good mood,” she said. “I’m always in a good mood. But I want to see how sincere they are.”
Late last year, Loo presided over the first jury trial in the state since the COVID-19 pandemic, with a reconfigured courtroom and extra sanitation and distancing precautions in place.
“It was a learning process,” Loo said. “It was a whole new experience, but we weathered it. We did it.”
When she talked to the jurors afterward, “everybody felt comfortable,” Loo said.
This year, she went on to preside over three more jury trials, including one in a civil case. So far, the jury trials have been the only ones held during the pandemic in the 2nd Circuit.
“I have been very fortunate to have very, very good staff working for me,” Loo said. “I couldn’t have done it without them. I owe a lot to them.”
Nadine Gomes, who has served as Loo’s judicial assistant since 2013, court clerk Mercedes Obregon and law clerk Emily Collins make up the current “Loo crew.”
Gomes described Loo as “small in stature but mighty.”
“She’s not afraid,” Gomes said. “She goes by the law.”
‘Wonderful wizard of Maui’
Raised on Maui, Loo attended Lihikai School and graduated from Baldwin High School, where she played tennis, in 1980.
She hadn’t thought about a career in the law before spending two summers during high school as an intern at the courthouse, which then was in the building that now houses the prosecutor’s office. After having a chance to observe court proceedings, “I liked what I heard, liked how the attorneys argued,” she said.
She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, marketing and management from the University of Oregon, then considered whether to pursue a master’s degree or go to law school. When she was accepted into the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii, “I was so happy to come back home and be on local soil again,” she said.
Loo was a law clerk for 2nd Circuit Judge E. John McConnell before being hired as a deputy prosecutor by then-Prosecuting Attorney Joseph Cardoza.
In 1997, she and her husband, Wendell, had been debating whether to have a big wedding with receptions on Maui and Oahu, which he wanted, or a smaller wedding, which she preferred.
She suggested that if she was picked to attend a seminar at Lake Tahoe, they would elope. He agreed.
After returning from the weeklong seminar, she got a message that Chief Justice Ronald Moon’s office had called because he wanted to interview her for a position as District Court judge. She thought she had blown the opportunity by not calling back for a week, but she got an interview.
She was in the middle of a felony drug trial when she got a call from Moon, who said he was nominating her for the judgeship.
“Justice Moon took a chance on me,” said Loo, who was younger than other candidates.
In addition to getting married and becoming a judge, she received a new puppy as a gift from her husband that year.
“1997 will always have a very, very dear place in my heart,” she said.
While in District Court, Loo served as deputy chief judge.
“I enjoyed District Court immensely,” she said. “I like the volume, I like the pace. You’re really dealing with everyday problems and everyday people.”
On June 9, 2011, when she was sworn in as a 2nd Circuit Court judge, Loo returned to Courtroom 1, where her legal career began as a law clerk and where it ended.
After Loo’s last court session Friday morning, those who have appeared before her over the years surprised Loo by turning the tables in a mock sentencing.
Former Deputy Prosecutor John Tam said “it was a scary experience” for defendants appearing before Loo to be sentenced.
“It was because I believe Judge Loo was trying to help them help themselves and make their lives better, put their lives together,” he said. “In keeping with the wonderful Wizard of Oz, I salute you, Judge Rhonda Loo, the wonderful wizard of Maui.”
Deputy Prosecutor Joanne Hicks, a former law clerk for Loo, played the role of judge to sentence Loo for “24 counts of outstanding judicial career in the first degree.”
“These are all A-plus felonies,” Hicks said. “It sounds like you had a great impact on this community.”
Later Friday, 2nd Circuit Chief Judge Richard Bissen presented Loo with an award recognizing her 33 years of civil service, including her nine years as a deputy prosecutor.
“We’re very grateful for her years of service to the Judiciary and the Maui community,” Bissen said. “We wish her well in her retirement.”
Family Court Judge Adrianne Heely recalled often seeing Loo running to an appointment, “robe in one hand, high heels in the other.”
“Mahalo for being such an inspiring leader, female jurist and leading many of us into this field,” Heely told Loo.
Defense attorney John Parker said he will miss Loo.
“Although I didn’t always agree with her, she always acted with honor and integrity,” said Parker, who appeared before her in District and Circuit court cases.
Deputy Prosecutor Carson Tani, who has been assigned to Loo’s courtroom for the past 10 years, said he appreciated her efficiency and how thorough she has been in reviewing cases.
“She has a gift of being able to relate to defendants, no matter who they are or what their crimes might be,” Tani said.
When defendants appear in court, “emotions are raw,” Loo said.
“You don’t always want to hear someone tell you like it is,” she said. “You don’t think you have a problem, you’re too sensitive.”
She said she’s not afraid to say what other people might be thinking.
“If you did it, just ‘fess up, move on, don’t do it again,” Loo said. “I just want Maui to be a better place. I hope, in the 24 years I’ve been here, I’ve made an impression in the right direction.”
In retirement, Loo plans to continue her travels that were put on hold in the pandemic. She has been to all seven continents, including Antarctica, in an unexpected trip that was “one of the most amazing.”
She will have more time with her and her husband’s five dogs — two German Shepherds, a pointer, a Yorkie and 5-pound “mutt.”
And, there will be more time to perform weddings that have taken her as far as Hana and Haleakala.
“Maui will never experience a judge like Judge Loo,” said Deputy Prosecutor Tracy Jones, who appeared before Loo in both District and Circuit courts. “She has touched so many lives and made an impact on the careers of so many attorneys. She really brought a true spirit of aloha to the practice of law, the court system and our community.”
* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.
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