Accused murderer Eric Thompson relives pain in retrial for killing wife’s former lover

By Kristen Consillio

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    HONOLULU, Hawaii (KITV) — Eric Thompson said being accused a second time of murdering his wife’s former lover has been a nightmare.

“It’s way worse than an affair,” Thompson said when testifying in his own defense on Friday.

He said he had forgiven his wife, Joyce, after her affair with their acupuncturist Jon Tokuhara, and moved on from the trauma.

“We put so much effort into coming out of it. I thought that was bad, but to be accused of something like this, it just turn your life upside down,” he said.

Thompson’s family packed the courtroom for his testimony, with Joyce smiling when pictures of the seemingly happy couple were shown at the beach and family gatherings months after the affair.

We were passed that for months now,” Thompson noted.

Thompson explained his shock when finding out that Tokuhara had been fatally shot at his Waipahu acupuncture clinic in January 2022.

That’s after his wife got a phone call.

“She says ‘Oh my god. He was found shot. They found Jon shot.’ We just kind of looked at each other for a second and I could see it really affected her so I went in to hug her and I just told her I’m here for you,” Thompson recalled.

Thompson’s defense attorney wrapped up by asking him point blank, “Eric, did you kill Jon Tokuhara?”

“No, no, no,” he responded.

Thompson is expected to take the stand again next week and the trial is expected to wrap up within days.

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