Trial opens in
New Year’s 2001
Waipahu shooting death

Opening statements focus on
revenge versus self-defense

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By Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.com

A Waipahu man shot another Waipahu man to death on New Year's Eve because he thought the victim had stolen his dog cage, according to a deputy prosecutor.

But the defense claims the shooting was self-defense.

David Torres, 65, went on trial yesterday for second-degree murder in the death of Pio Ioane, 40, a methamphetamine addict, in Oahu's first homicide of 2001. Torres is also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Torres' attorney, Deputy Public Defender Todd Eddins, said his client didn't want to shoot Ioane, but was in fear for his life.

Torres, a former custodian at Leilehua High, who was on Social Security and disability after suffering a series of heart attacks in the mid-'80s, knew he wasn't supposed to own a firearm because of a previous felony conviction. But hunting had always been his passion and he used the rifle for hunting, Eddins said.

Early on New Year's 2001, Torres retrieved his gun from his Pupukahi Street apartment, fearing trouble because Ioane was coming up the road challenging him, yelling, "I get one piece -- go get your piece," referring to a firearm, Eddins said.

The defense described Ioane as the aggressor and that his behavior was rapidly becoming unpredictable. Torres tried to put on a tough front, but inside he was scared that Ioane would take his gun away and pummel him, Eddins said.

Torres believed the much bigger Ioane was intoxicated and was carrying a gun when he confronted Torres, accusing him of calling him a liar and a thief, Eddins said.

Torres squeezed the trigger because he didn't want to wind up in the hospital or worse, he said.

But Deputy Prosecutor Julian White said Torres' actions were the culmination of a plan he had set in motion in December 2000 when he said, "I gonna shoot Pio (Ioane) for doing what he did; I gonna shoot Pio for taking what's mine."

Someone had stolen Torres' dog cage -- used for transporting hunting dogs -- off his truck sometime earlier and he had heard rumors that Ioane was the one responsible. He confronted Ioane about it the night before, but Ioane had denied it.

But Torres was in no mood to forgive and forget and he confronted Ioane about the dog cage again the next day, White said.

Angry at Ioane's responses, Torres retrieved his rifle. When Ioane took a step toward him, Torres struck him with the rifle stock, causing it to break, White said. When Ioane didn't go down, Torres then fired a shot in the air and continued to yell at him.

Witnesses are expected to testify that Ioane held out his hands as though to calm Torres, saying, "Bruddah, it's New Year's, come on," White said. But Torres then fired a fatal second shot, hitting him in the stomach as he stood less than five feet away.

White said no firearm was found near Ioane's body.

An autopsy performed on Ioane showed he had a blood alcohol content of 0.269 percent, more than three times the legal limit for driving, and an amount of methamphetamine in his system, Eddins said.

The jury trial in Circuit Judge Michael Town's courtroom is expected to last until next Wednesday.