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Murder defendant
was indeed at scene,
witness testifies

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By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

Keala Leong was on the porch of a cabin with two others at the Waianae Recreation Center the night Army helicopter pilot John Latchum was fatally shot, according to testimony at his murder trial.

Keoni Tapaoan, 20, a government witness, said yesterday that he now remembers Leong was on the porch with Bryson Jose and Roberto Miguel.

Miguel, Jose and Leong are on trial for first-degree murder for causing Latchum's death while trying to break into and rob a cabin early on June 3, 1998. The government contends Miguel fired the fatal shot that struck Latchum.

Although Tapaoan was also with the trio that night, no charges have been filed against him. Government prosecutors have made no promises that he will not be eventually charged.

During questioning in U.S. District Court by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Johnson, Tapaoan said he recalled that he told a police detective within a week of the shooting that Leong was also on the porch.

Up until yesterday, Tapaoan has testified that he could not recall where Leong was after the group walked onto the recreation center grounds with the intent of robbing and beating someone up and stealing whatever they could find on the cabin porches.

Leong has been characterized by Tapaoan as least culpable of the three defendants.

Tapaoan, who earlier testified that he stepped onto the porch of the cabin with the intent of taking bodyboards if there were any to be found, said he changed his mind when he saw Miguel bring out a gun that had been passed around earlier that night.

Although he believes it would be fair if the government charged him with attempted burglary and attempted robbery because that was his intent when he stepped on the porch, Tapaoan said he would not plead guilty to those charges.

When asked why by Miguel's attorney, federal public defender Peter Wolff, Tapaoan answered, " 'Cause when I saw everything happening, I just didn't want to take part of it anymore."

But he did not leave the campsite entirely, and said he hung around "just to see and watch."

After the shooting, Tapaoan said, Miguel showed him how he had held the gun during the shooting.