STAR-BULLETIN / 2003
Shane Mark's defense has asked a judge to suppress some evidence belonging to Mark that was found at the scene of the shooting and at the hospital where he was later treated.
Self-defense claimed
in officer’s death
A man is expected to argue that he fired a handgun in self-defense, killing a police officer in March, because of earlier threats against his life.
Shane Mark is set for trial Dec. 2 for first-degree murder in the shooting of officer Glen Gaspar at the Kapolei Baskin-Robbins on March 4. Gaspar and other undercover officers were attempting to arrest Mark in connection with a shooting on Feb. 1 in which one man was shot in the thigh.
Mark, 29, is raising self-defense in an attempted-murder case in connection with a shooting a month earlier in Moanalua. He asked a judge yesterday to consolidate both cases.
"People had been threatening him, and he was threatened such that when grabbed (by officer Glen Gaspar and others on March 4) he believed they were agents of people threatening him" and that "people were grabbing him for nefarious purposes," said deputy public defender Debra Loy.
On Feb. 1, Mark allegedly shot at two people near a Moanalua church after confronting them about an inoperable security camera that he had exchanged for $150 worth of crystal methamphetamine, police said. One of the men was hit in the leg. The other escaped injury.
In the March 4 incident, police staked out the Kapolei Baskin-Robbins after learning Mark was going there to meet with his 10-year-old daughter, who was visiting from the mainland.
Gaspar and officer Calvin Sung, who were both not in uniform, allegedly followed Mark when he entered the ice cream store and began to grab him by the arms, according to defense documents. Mark backed away, and a struggle ensued with him ending up on the ground with Gaspar and Sung on top of him. During the struggle, Mark removed a revolver from his clothing and fired, hitting Gaspar.
Police Chief Lee Donohue had said following the shooting that the officers had identified themselves to Mark in the ice cream store.
Deputy Prosecutor Chris Van Marter did not object to consolidating the two cases, but he did object to the defense's request to suppress certain items belonging to Mark at the scene of the shooting and at the hospital where he was later taken for treatment.
The defense is seeking to suppress, among other items, a blood sample taken from Mark subject to a search warrant, a backpack left on the floor at Baskin-Robbins, a gun and ammunition from the scene of the shooting, and clothing and personal items taken from him at the emergency room of St. Francis-West Medical Center.
Police have retained the items for evidence and have not returned any of them to Mark even if they have nothing to do with the charges he faces, Loy said.
While not all of the items were seized under a search warrant, Van Marter argued that items such as Mark's clothing, which were stained with possibly Gaspar's blood and possible gunshot residue, or cartridge casings found in the car Mark drove to Kapolei are evidence linking him to the shooting.
