Criminal Attorneys

The judge in the Howard Beach racial-attack case ruled yesterday that the seven remaining defendants will have a single trial with two juries.

The judge in the Howard Beach racial-attack case ruled yesterday that the seven remaining defendants will have a single trial with two juries.

As a result of the ruling, a highly unusual but not unpredecented approach in New York State courts, the two juries will weigh the charges against different defendants. Much of the testimony and arguments in the trial will be presented while both juries are in the courtroom, but a good deal will be presented with only one of the juries present.

Under the ruling by Justice Thomas A. Demakos of State Supreme Court in Queens, one jury will decide the case against the defendant facing the most serious charges of the seven. That defendant, Thomas Gucciardo, 19 years old, is charged with attempted murder, first-degree assault and first-degree riot stemming from the incident in Howard Beach, Queens, in which a gang of young whites attacked three black men in December 1986. Bid Fails for Separate Trials

The other jury will decide the cases of the other six defendants, against whom first-degree riot - which is far less serious than attempted murder and first-degree assault -is either the only charge or the most serious one.

Lawyers for the six defendants had moved to have their clients tried separately from Mr. Gucciardo, which would have meant two more trials in the Howard Beach incident. The lawyers had asserted that their clients’ cases would be unfairly prejudiced if they were tried together with Mr. Gucciardo. They said the evidence presented against him on the attempted murder and assault charges would have a ”prejudicial spillover effect and unnecessarily inflame the jury” against the defendants facing the lesser charges.

But in his ruling, Justice Demakos - noting there had already been one long trial of Howard Beach defendants and citing concern about ‘’successive protracted trials” - ruled that the answer was not two more trials but a single trial with two juries. In taking this course, he went along with a suggestion from the special state prosecutor handling the case, Charles J. Hynes, who had opposed separate trials for the remaining defendants and had proposed the dual-jury single trial as an alternative.

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With raised voices and emotional appeals, lawyers for the four New York City police officers charged with murdering Amadou Diallo pleaded with jurors today to see his shooting as a tragic mistake brought on by Mr. Diallo’s actions.

The prosecutor, Eric Warner, made an equally impassioned argument. ”Amadou Diallo never had a chance,” Mr. Warner said. ”In the mind-set they had, that man was doomed from the minute they saw him.”

The lawyers’ summations came after three weeks of a trial that was at times racially charged. The four officers, who are white, fired 41 shots at Mr. Diallo, a 22-year-old black man who was standing, unarmed, in the vestibule of his apartment building in the Bronx on Feb. 4, 1999. He was struck 19 times.

In their arguments today, the defense lawyers stressed the state of mind of the officers, who they said shot Mr. Diallo out of fear. They believed Mr. Diallo was pulling a gun out of his pocket and intended to shoot them, the lawyers said. The officers, who happened to be driving down Mr. Diallo’s block, said they approached him because they thought he might have been a rapist or a robber.

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An anonymous tip has led to the apprehension of Joseph Timothy Thompson, the suspect wanted for a shooting that occurred Aug. 5 in Indian Head, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office announces.

The Sheriff’s Office learned Thompson, 23, of no fixed address, was traveling in a silver passenger vehicle in the Indian Head area. At approximately 12:50 a.m. Aug. 21, officers saw a vehicle matching that description traveling on Hawthorne Road and followed it for a short distance. The driver pulled into a parking lot in the 4400 block of Hawthorne Road and stopped. As officers approached the vehicle, two men fled on foot. One of the men was apprehended when he exited the vehicle but the other, later identified as Thompson, fled on foot into the woods. Two women remained in the vehicle. One of the women was identified as Jamilah Alease Abdullah, 23, of Indian Head, who was wanted by the Sheriff’s Office on motor vehicle theft charges. She was placed under arrest. Officers also identified the other woman, who was driving the vehicle, and the man they apprehended, but their identities are not being released because they have not been charged with a crime. A K9 team quickly responded and conducted a search for Thompson. The K9 unit apprehended Thompson minutes later nearby in a wooded area.

Thompson was served with three warrants, including the warrant charging him with attempted second degree murder, first degree assault and other charges related to the Aug. 5 shooting in which Thompson, Charles McCleland Shorter, 21, of Indian Head and Carlos Antonio Watson, 15, of La Plata shot a 25-year-old Indian Head man who they were attempting to rob. That shooting occurred about 2 p.m. behind a vacant building in the 4600 block of Indian Head Highway. The victim was flown by a Maryland State Police helicopter to Baltimore Shock Trauma and survived his injuries. The victim met Shorter the day before the shooting occurred. When they arranged to meet the following day, Shorter, Thompson and Watson robbed and shot him. The incident appears to be drug-related. Shorter was arrested shortly after the incident occurred and Watson was arrested Aug. 12 in Colonial Beach, Va., and charged as an adult.

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A 25-year-old man, one of four suspects charged in last month’s Wahiawa convenience store robbery, was found dead in his prison cell yesterday.

Farrington Governor Santos, 25, was found hanged in his cell at the Oahu Community Correctional Center at 3:57 p.m., police officials said.

He was found by another inmate, who went to check on Santos because he did not show up for kitchen duty that day, police said. Santos apparently used a bedsheet to hang himself.

Police homicide detectives as well as prison officials will be investigating the death.

Santos, of Kalihi, was one of four men charged in connection with the armed robbery attempt at California Market on Jan. 8.

He had pleaded not guilty in Circuit Court and was awaiting trial for the week of April 5. He had been held on $300,000 bail.

In the robbery attempt, a gunman entered the market about 5:50 p.m. and demanded money from owner Paul Fithian, 53. The two struggled, and though Fithian said the gunman twice pulled the trigger, the gun did not go off.

But Fithian’s wife, Pok Cha Fithian, 46, was shot in the face when she entered the market, police said. She was taken to Queen’s Hospital and has since been released.

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What is the apparent motive behind the Christmas Eve robbery that resulted in the slaying of liquor store owner Song Chol Marshall? Money to pay off debts and buy drugs, prosecutors say.

Gabriel Apilando, 30, apparently was the mastermind behind the robbery, prosecutors alleged.

“He suggested the place to be robbed, knew the victim and the victim’s habits,” said Deputy Prosecutor Sharlene Tom yesterday, shortly after an Oahu grand jury indicted Apilando for first-degree robbery tied to Marshall’s death.

The grand jury also indicted alleged shooter Eric Vance, brothers James and Albert Hoapili and Sheldon Barquez on various charges in Marshall’s death.

Vance, 31, already in custody in lieu of $250,000 bail, was indicted on charges of second-degree murder, first-degree robbery, auto theft and two firearms offenses.

Albert R. Hoapili Jr., 33, was charged with first-degree robbery and hindering prosecution. Bail was set at $55,000.

He previously pleaded no contest to an unrelated first-degree criminal property charge in which he repeatedly rammed another person’s car with his car during a high-speed chase in December 1998. His plea was deferred on condition he stay out of trouble until 2004. He also has pending felony burglary and criminal property damage charges.

Brother James Hoapili, 28, was charged with first-degree robbery. He was booked on the robbery charge. Bail was set at $50,000. He also has pending auto theft and two burglary charges.

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A Kona police detective was charged yesterday with the murder of his 42-year-old wife near their Waikoloa home Friday night.

Albert Pacheco, 45, was charged with second-degree murder, first-degree criminal property damage and first-degree terroristic threatening.

An 11-year-veteran of the Hawaii County Police Department, Pacheco was being held without bail at the Hilo cellblock until his arraignment today.

An autopsy yesterday revealed his wife, Cathalene Ann Pacheco, died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head.

Police said they believe marital problems were the motive for the shooting.

Police said Albert Pacheco allegedly drove his police car into a van driven by his wife, blocked her vehicle, then shot her several times. The shooting took place about 7 p.m. Friday on Lina Poepoe Street in Waikoloa Village in South Kohala.

Police arrested Pacheco about 7:25 p.m. without incident.

Pacheco joined the Hawaii County Police Department in January 1991 and worked in the South Kohala Patrol District. He was promoted to detective-sergeant in May 1999, when he was assigned to the Kona Criminal Investigation Section. He began in his police career in 1981 in Honolulu.

Friends, family and co-workers mourned the loss of Cathalene Pacheco yesterday.

“Cathalene was a very Christian person, and her religion and family were the two most important things in her life,” said Larry Hull, broker in charge of Clark Realty Corp.’s Kailua-Kona office, for whom she worked as a successful Realtor.

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Shane Mark pleaded not guilty this morning to murder and other charges in the slaying of plainclothes police officer Glen Gaspar last week.

Mark entered the not-guilty plea in Circuit Court via video from the Oahu Community Correctional Center where he has been held since the fatal shooting. Mark, 28, was indicted Thursday on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder, two firearms offenses and two drug offenses.

Gaspar was shot as he and other officers tried to arrest Mark on several outstanding warrants at the Baskin Robbins ice cream store in Kapolei Shopping Center.

Mark also pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder in an unrelated Feb. 1 case, in which he is accused of shooting at two men, striking one in a dispute over a inoperable surveillance camera he received in exchange for $150 worth of methamphetamine.

Mark faces trial in Gaspar’s killing on May 12. He is being held in lieu of $5 million cash- only bail in that case and an additional $2 million cash-only bail in the attempted murder case.

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An Oahu grand jury has indicted five men, at least four of them affiliated with the Bad Boys Ilocano youth gang, in the murder of Aiea resident Greg Morishima last month.

Micah Kanahele, 22, Rosalino Ramos, 22, and Jason Rumbawa, 23, are charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and several firearms offenses in the Oct. 26 shooting at a Pamoho Place house.

Charged with first-degree robbery were Kevin Harris, 26, and the alleged driver of the getaway car, Anthony Brown, 23. Harris also was charged with keeping a loaded firearm in a prohibited place.

Prosecutors said Brown, Rumbawa, Ramos and Kanahele are members of the gang.

Rumbawa had recently ended parole after five felony convictions for multiple counts of terroristic threatening, reckless endangerment and a firearm offense, prosecutors said. He was sentenced to five years in prison.

Kanahele has two felony firearms convictions.

Morishima, 49, had gone to his friend’s home to deliver some mangoes when he was allegedly confronted in the garage by a group of masked gunmen who demanded crystal methamphetamine. The group allegedly opened fire when Morishima told them he had none.

Kanahele, Ramos and Harris were earlier charged in connection with a fatal shooting that killed one man and wounded another Nov. 1 in Pearl City.

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A 17-year-old boy accused of shooting a Punchbowl homeowner in the chest during a botched burglary last June told police that the resident forced him to shoot.

City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle said in court yesterday that defendant Miti Maugaotega Jr. told police, “‘Cause the guy I shot, he — he was asking me for shoot ‘em.”

Maugaotega, who has since turned 18, went on trial yesterday in Circuit Court for second-degree attempted murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, and various firearms and drug offenses. If convicted of attempted murder, Maugaotega faces life imprisonment with parole.

The homeowner, Eric Kawamoto, 43, suffered critical internal injuries when a bullet from a Colt .45 semiautomatic tore through his chest and lodged in his back, but he survived and is expected to testify.

Carlisle has cited the case as an example of how those committing property crimes can turn violent, particularly when they’re using crystal methamphetamine.

Maugaotega doesn’t dispute he was in Kawamoto’s Puowaina Drive home on June 26 when Kawamoto returned home from work or that he was carrying a firearm, said deputy public defender Walter Rodby.

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An Oahu grand jury has indicted 20-year-old Micah White on murder charges for allegedly stabbing, then setting afire his mother and aunt April 5 at his Kailua home.

White was charged yesterday with first-degree murder — causing more than one death — two counts of second-degree murder and first-degree criminal property damage. Circuit Judge Richard Perkins confirmed bail for White at $1 million.

White’s mother, Kerry White, 48, suffered burns over 80 percent of her body in addition to a collapsed lung after her son allegedly attacked her and doused her with a flammable liquid at their Kainui Drive home. She had been stabbed at least three times — twice in the left side of her chest. She died April 29.

White’s aunt Sharon White, 58, who was visiting at the time, suffered burns over 55 percent of her body in the fire that gutted the home. She also had a fractured nose; multiple cuts to her head, hands and forearm; and suffered a collapsed lung. Just before she was taken to a hospital, she identified her nephew to a fire investigator as their attacker. She died on April 14.

Micah White initially had been charged with two counts of second-degree attempted murder, first-degree attempted murder and first-degree criminal property damage with bail set at $300,000. At the time, both women were still alive.

According to police, Kerry White had called her husband a total of four times that day. During one of the calls, she asked her husband to come home because Micah was “tweaking.” During her last call, White was allegedly confronting her with a rolling pin.

Tweaking is a term often used to describe the irritability and paranoia that chronic crystal methamphetamine users experience when the euphoria from the drug diminishes.

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Thomas “Wes” Greene, wounded by a police officer after allegedly ramming a stolen car into police and other vehicles Wednesday, was a talented athlete who received scholarship offers to play college football, his neighbors say.

Village Park neighbor Ryan Morales said Greene “was such a nice guy,” with a bright future as a college football player. “All of a sudden, he was cruising with these guys,” Morales said. “Since then he went downhill.”

Greene, 18, was upgraded to serious condition from critical yesterday at Queen’s Medical Center.

In Wednesday’s car-ramming case in Pearl City, he faces charges of multiple first-degree attempted murder, first-degree criminal property damage, driving without a license and auto theft but has not yet been charged. Greene was arrested last week for auto theft.

Yesterday, police charged Greene’s 24-year-old passenger, Randy Garcia, Greene’s half brother, with possession of drug paraphernalia and third-degree promotion of dangerous drugs. Garcia was convicted on two counts of second-degree forgery May 31, 2002, and sentenced to five years’ probation.

Garcia was arrested and Greene taken to the hospital after Greene allegedly drove toward police officers at Acacia Road and Kamehameha Highway, ramming their vehicles. He allegedly hit three officers who suffered minor injuries.

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The American Red Cross-Hawaii chapter is looking for individuals who are interested in becoming instructors to provide lifesaving training to isle residents.

Those interested must have current instructor authorization and some background in training or experience in giving presentations to a group of at least 10 people.

Those interested can call Josh at 739-8121. Residents on the neighbor islands can call their county offices at the following numbers:

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Gabriel Felix was straightening up his carport late on Oct. 26, 2003, and talking story with a friend who was sitting nearby when he heard his friend comment, “It’s too early for Halloween,” and laugh.

That’s when Felix heard a gunshot, followed by perhaps two more. It happened so fast, he can’t recall exactly how many.

“I was shocked, I cannot move,” Felix said yesterday, recalling the day his friend Greg Morishima, 49, was fatally gunned down as he sat just 10 feet away.

After the first shot, Felix turned and saw three masked people standing in his carport carrying guns. When he looked in their direction again, they were gone.

Trial began yesterday in Circuit Judge Michael Town’s courtroom for Micah Kanahele, 24, Rosalino Ramos, 24, and Jason Rumbawa, 25, charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and firearms offenses in Morishima’s death. Also on trial is Anthony Brown, 24, who is charged with first-degree robbery.

Defense attorneys said yesterday that none of the defendants were at the murder scene and that Kevin Harris, a fifth defendant and the state’s key witness, blamed the others to deflect blame from himself.

At least one defendant, Rumbawa, contends he wa

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One of five defendants charged in the fatal shooting of an Aiea man said he saw three of his companions fire their weapons, but did not discharge his.

Kevin Harris, 27, took the stand yesterday in Circuit Court and gave details of the shooting of Greg Morishima, 49, in the carport of a Pamoho Place home.

Micah Kanahele, 24, Rosalino Ramos, 24, and Jason Rumbawa, 25, are charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and firearms offenses. Anthony Brown, 24, the driver of the getaway car, is charged with first-degree robbery.

All four defendants say they weren’t there and that Harris is blaming them to deflect responsibility for his role in the shooting. Harris cooperated in the investigation and pleaded to a reduced robbery charge in exchange for his testimony.

Harris said Kanahele, a city parks employee, was the one in charge that night. He also told Deputy Prosecutor Lucianne Khalaf that Kanahele wanted to rob a house that he knew had drugs.

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A veteran police detective who was cleared of criminal wrongdoing for her conduct in a recent murder case did not ask a fellow detective to backdate any reports, her attorney said.

Attorney David Hayakawa was responding to testimony by fellow detective Ted Coons during a hearing yesterday in Circuit Court to determine whether an anonymous letter alleging misconduct by Detective Sheryl Sunia can be used at trial.

Sunia was the lead detective in the murder of Greg Morishima, who was gunned down in an Aiea carport in October 2003 by masked men allegedly looking for drugs.

Micah Kanahele, Rosalino Ramos and Jason Rumbawa are awaiting a retrial in that case later this month on multiple charges, including second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and firearm charges. Co-defendant Anthony Brown faces a single count of first-degree robbery.

During questioning by Kanahele’s attorney, Richard Hoke, Coons testified that Detective Larry Tamashiro, who had assisted Sunia in the Morishima investigation, told him sometime after the trial that Sunia had told him to put in a request for a ballistic report and to “backdate it.”

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Four men are being retried in Circuit Court on charges stemming from a botched drug robbery that resulted in the death of an Aiea man.

On trial are Micah Kanahele, 24; Rosalino Ramos, 24; and Jason Rumbawa, 25, who are charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and firearm offenses in the death of Greg Morishima, 49. A fourth defendant, Anthony Brown, 24, is charged with first-degree robbery.

Kevin Harris, 27, pleaded guilty earlier to a reduced charge of second-degree robbery and agreed to testify against his co-defendants.

At their first trial in April, a mistrial was declared after the jury could not reach a unanimous decision.

According to Deputy Prosecutor Lucianne Khalaf, Morishima went to visit a friend, Gabriel Felix, at a Pamoho Place home on Oct. 26, 2003. Morishima was sitting in the carport at the home when a group of masked gunmen appeared.

Felix, who was bent over at the time, did not see the gunmen initially, but heard Morishima comment, “It’s too early for Halloween,” followed by two or three gunshots.

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Arthur Birano broke into a Salt Lake home, threatened the lone male resident at gunpoint and shot him point-blank in the chest — all for “ice” and cash, prosecutors said.

Birano, 33, went on trial in Circuit Court yesterday on charges of second-degree murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and firearm offenses in the April 2001 home invasion that killed Darryl Lee, 46.

Birano contends he was not there the night of the robbery, and suggested that two of his friends were responsible for robbing and killing Lee.

But deputy prosecutor Chris Van Marter said the evidence will show that Birano was the “leader” who recruited two people to help him pull off the robbery.

Van Marter said that Birano asked Sharmaine Barros, a longtime friend, if she knew anyone with drugs and cash whom he could rob.

Barros told Birano about Lee, whom she had known for about five years and dated, according to Van Marter.

She knew Lee kept money and drugs in a backpack and a safe at his Salt Lake home, Van Marter said. She provided Lee’s name and address because Birano told her he was only going to “steal Darryl’s stuff” and that no one would get hurt.

Birano also convinced friend and convicted burglar Michael Randall to help him break into Lee’s home and act as a lookout.

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A Punchbowl man smashed a car window, doused his neighbor with gasoline and set him afire as the neighbor’s family sat inside the car watching in horror, prosecutors say.

But the defense says that while Keith Yamamoto did attack and injure Lai Lim Leong, he never intended to kill him or injure his family.

Trial began yesterday in Circuit Court for Yamamoto, charged with second-degree attempted murder, first-degree terroristic threatening and two counts of first-degree criminal property damage in the Oct. 4, 2004, attack.

That morning, Leong was backing his family’s Mercedes out of the garage of their Bush Lane home when he heard and spotted Yamamoto pull up in his truck, blocking his vehicle, Deputy Prosecutor Wayne Tashima said. In the car with Leong was his wife, Pei Hong; 11-month-old daughter, Dana; and sister Ling Na.

Leong locked the car doors and closed all the windows when he saw Yamamoto, holding a 4-foot-long spear gun, approach their car and yell expletives, Tashima said.

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A Maui man accused of second-degree murder yesterday testified he never strangled 82-year-old retired Navy physician Edward Bird during a burglary at his home in Kihei.

“I’ve never been inside Mr. Bird’s apartment,” Michael Arlo Pavich told jurors.

Pavich, 34, who took the stand yesterday in Maui Circuit Court, said he stayed at Charlie Young Beach, while Lisa Avilla and her cousin Shannon Estencion went to burglarize the home.

Bird, who could barely walk with a cane and used a wheelchair to travel to and from the store, was found in the ground-floor bedroom of his Pacific Shores condominium on the morning of Dec. 3, 2000.

Avilla, 35, has testified she and Pavich burglarized the home and Pavich strangled Bird in a struggle.

The prosecution has alleged that blood traces found on a napkin in Bird’s kitchen were consistent with Pavich’s DNA profile.

Pavich has pleaded not guilty to the charges of second-degree murder, first-degree burglary, kidnapping and first-degree robbery.

His defense attorney, Keith Shigetomi, has accused Avilla and other witnesses of making misstatements and lying after receiving favorable treatment as a result of their testimonies.

Shigetomi has said Bird had filed a police report against Avilla and another woman for allegedly stealing items from his home previously. And Pavich said the idea to burglarize the house came from Avilla.

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Seven of the eight youths charged in the beating and gang rape of a jogger in Central Park have made incriminating statements about their involvement in the attack, a prosecutor said at their arraignment yesterday.

Seven of the eight youths charged in the beating and gang rape of a jogger in Central Park have made incriminating statements about their involvement in the attack, a prosecutor said at their arraignment yesterday.

The prosecutor, Elizabeth Lederer, said that in videotaped and written statements to the police, the teen-agers described how they hunted the woman, chased her down a path, beat her with a lead pipe, a brick and rocks, stripped her clothes and then held her down while at least four of them raped her.

”It is not at all clear that this will not become a murder case,” Ms. Lederer, an assistant Manhattan district attorney, said, arguing against bail for the eight youths. Ordered Held Without Bail

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