Shooting defendant
tells jury his side

The man who allegedly shot a
cop says he didn't want
to hurt anyone

By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

All he wanted was some spending money.

Peter Moses testified at his attempted murder trial yesterday that he broke into a rental car at Makapuu Lighthouse Road on Sept. 11, 1998, to steal things so he could have money "to do something."

Moses, 21, told jurors in Circuit Judge Marie Milks courtroom that he never intended to hurt or kill anyone and was not high on cocaine when three Honolulu police officers attempted to arrest him for possible burglary.

Moses is charged with attempted murders of two officers and also faces theft and other related charges.

According to earlier testimony from the officers, Moses resisted arrest and refused to have handcuffs put on him by police officer Earl Haskell. A scuffle between the two followed. During the struggle, Haskell was shot in the stomach. Later, Moses climbed into the front seat of a police patrol car and was shot several times by another officer.

Moses yesterday testified he did not want Haskell to pull his arms behind his back to arrest him because it hurt, so he swung his left arm back to his side. Moses said he and Haskell then got into a struggle and the two fell over a pillar. That's when Moses heard a gunshot.

Under questioning by his attorney, public defender Debra Loy, Moses said he fell on Haskell's gun, which was on the ground, rolled to his feet and unknowingly picked up the weapon. When Loy asked why he didn't throw down the gun, Moses said he was too confused by all the action and didn't know he had the weapon in his right hand until after he ran across the street and into Haskell's parked patrol car.

Moses said he ran into the squad car because it was the first thing he saw, and not because he wanted to use it to escape. He testified he never intended to use the gun, never fired the gun and never intended to kill Haskell or the other two officers, John Veneri and Laura Chong.

Haskell last week testified that Moses shot him once during the scuffle and then held the gun to his head.

Yesterday, Loy had Moses describe the scene at the patrol car. Moses said as he opened the driver's side door he was hit in the back of the leg by bullets fired by Veneri. Moses said he then threw himself face down into the front seat, flipped over and lay there, with his legs still hanging outside the driver's side door.

"I just laid there and watched bullets shatter the door," he said.

Moses said he pulled himself fully into the car after another bullet hit him. And when another grazed his head, he opened the passenger side door, dropped the gun and crawled out. That's when officers arrested him.

Deputy Prosecutor Rom Trader told reporters after the trial that Veneri fired his weapon 33 times, hitting Moses 10 times in both legs, his shoulder and neck, with another bullet grazing his head.

Although tests showed traces of cocaine in his blood at the time of the incident, Moses denied he was on cocaine. He said he was clearheaded at the time.

Milks said she expects closing arguments in the case to begin Wednesday. A firearms expert was expected to testify today.