Man gets life term
for Christmas murder
A man who pleaded guilty to shooting Kaneohe liquor store owner Song Chol Marshall on Christmas Eve four years ago apologized in Circuit Court yesterday.
But the victim's widow wasn't there to hear it.
Deputy Prosecutor Lori Wada said Marshall's widow has been "absolutely and completely devastated" by the loss of her husband and could not be persuaded to attend the sentencing for Eric Vance, her husband's murderer.
Vance, 34, pleaded guilty in November 2003 to shooting Marshall, who owned Angie's Market on Kaneohe Bay Drive. Marshall's body was discovered in a trash bin in Waimanalo on Christmas Day 2000, dead of a gunshot wound to his head. Marshall's van, which had been stolen, was later found burned in Mapunapuna.
Circuit Judge Derrick Chan sentenced Vance to a mandatory life term with parole for Marshall's murder, with a mandatory 20 years for using a semiautomatic firearm. The life term will be served concurrently with a 20-year term for first-degree robbery, a five-year term for car theft and two 10-year terms on two firearms counts.
Chan also sentenced Vance to a concurrent 20 years for kidnapping and 10 years for escape.
Wada said Marshall was shot and robbed because of a $35 debt Vance owed a co-defendant, Gabriel Apilando, who has pleaded guilty to robbery, and because they and three other men wanted to buy drugs, party and have a nice holiday season.
"There will be no more Christmases or parties for Mr. Marshall," Wada noted.
Apilando, who lived a block away from Angie's Market and was a frequent customer, had directed his co-defendants to the liquor store knowing it would be open late Christmas Eve and would probably have a lot of cash, Wada said.
