High school sports: Hunter's Filimoehala acquitted, returns to school

Dave Filimoehala's nightmare came to an end Thursday afternoon.

A few weeks ago, the Hunter High boys basketball coach, assistant football coach and teacher was put on paid administrative leave after an argument with his estranged wife led to his being arrested and charged with criminal mischief domestic violence and disorderly conduct.

On Thursday, he was acquitted of both charges in a 11/2-hour bench trial in Lehi Justice Court. Judge Gary Sampson found Filimoehala not guilty, and Hunter administrators reinstated Filimoehala immediately.

On Friday morning, Filimoehala was back at work.

"Dave is relieved and very happy this is over with," said his attorney Brett Anderson. "The end result in this case is that justice was served."

The ordeal began on Aug. 31, when Filimoehala, who is in the midst of a divorce, and his wife were dividing their property. He said they began arguing about her taking his cell phone and a check that belonged to him.

When he attempted to disable her car so she couldn't take his belongings, he said her adult son grabbed him, causing him to pull the wires completely from the engine.

"If he hadn't jumped on me, I wouldn't have pulled them off," Filimoehala told the Deseret News last month. "I thought she called the police 45 minutes earlier when I said, 'If you're not going to give me my stuff, we need to call the police.' "

Filimoehala said being unable to teach and coach was the worst part of the ordeal that also included a trip to jail, rumors about his personal life and television and newspaper stories on the arrest.

"That's the sadness of these things," said Anderson, who worked to expedite the proceeding so Filimoehala could go back to work. "He has to deal with the allegations and they turn out not to have any validity. ... This is his career hung up in the mix. He's very happy it worked out the way it did."

Hunter principal Maile Loo said Filimoehala, who is an accomplished coach who has won state titles at Lehi and Hunter, was back at work Friday morning.

e-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com