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He heard gunshots, so accused bank robber Sean Matsunaga reacted to protect himself. Exploding dye packs
added to confusion,
robbery suspect says
By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin"I heard pow, pow, pow and that's when I fired back," Matsunaga said in a tape-recorded statement played to jurors yesterday, in the attempted murder trial of bank robber Albert Batalona.
Where those initial shots came from and who they were intended for are issues for the jury to decide when they receive the case Wednesday.
Batalona is one of four men accused of robbing the American Savings bank in Kahala in July 1999. Matsunaga, Roger Dailey and Jacob Hayme pleaded guilty to bank robbery in federal court.
Batalona is the only one charged in state court with first-degree attempted murder for shooting at a police officer.
Yesterday, the defense rested its case without calling Batalona to the stand.
Defense attorney David Klein introduced Matsunaga's statement apparently to bolster his contention that others, not Batalona, fired shots at the officer.
The state contends the shots came from Batalona, who fired at least 20 shots at police officer Frederick Rosskopf, who escaped injury.
Besides admitting Matsunaga's recorded statement into evidence, both sides agreed yesterday to the plea agreement Matsunaga reached with federal prosecutors.
In the plea agreement, Matsunaga said Batalona fired numerous rounds from his weapon at the police officer.
In yesterday's recorded statement, Matsunaga said when he ran out of the bank, smoke was everywhere, burning his eyes and making breathing difficult.
He had spotted a police officer earlier, crouched behind his car parked on the street fronting the bank, and fired in the direction of the officer's car.
"I know he was behind the car, I couldn't see him," said Matsunaga, who was on the passenger side of the getaway Blazer when he opened fire.
When asked why he fired, Matsunaga said it was because he heard shots first, but didn't know where they were coming from.
"I thought you guys were shooting that smoke thing at us, that's why there was smoke everywhere."
He learned later the smoke had come from a dye pack hidden in bills that exploded in accomplice Roger Dailey's jacket pockets moments after he fled the bank.
On Wednesday, Dailey said he saw Batalona standing on the floorboard of the front passenger side, pointing his gun in the direction a police officer had gone.
Hayme told police he fired his weapon in the air twice outside the bank during the commotion that ensued when the dye packs in the duffel bag full of cash he had tossed into the Blazer exploded, according to testimony by Det. Larry Tamashiro. Hayme did not take the stand.
Hayme said he was trying to pull the bag out of the car when he "may have fired two shots."
"I wasn't pointing it at anybody 'cause I was behind the vehicle."
When asked by Tamashiro what was going through his mind, Hayme said, "I don't want to die like this, you know. I just started regretting -- whoa, man, I can't believe I actually agreed to going through with this -- with this whole situation. I shouldn't have, you know, but I guess it's too late."
Hayme said he never saw the officer.
More than 30 bullet casings were later found in the parking lot of the bank. Four were traced to Hayme's AK-47, and five to Matsunaga's AR-15 assault rifle, the same weapon Batalona carried. No casings were found that matched Dailey's .357 revolver.
Matsunaga said he and Hayme burned their clothing and the cash stained from the dye packs in a trash can behind Matsunaga's father's home. Matsunaga said they came up with the idea to take over the bank, rather than pass demand notes because the take is much greater.