Doubt cast on
murder weaponDefendant Christopher Aki says
a 40-pound rock was used to kill
Kahealani Indreginal
The 40-pound rock purported to be the murder weapon that killed 11-year-old Kahealani Indreginal could not have caused her injuries, according to the Honolulu medical examiner.
Kahealani, whose body was found at Keaiwa Heiau State Park on Dec. 13, 2002, died of blunt force trauma to her face, resulting in two fractures to her jawbone and a broken palate.
"The fractures are more consistent with being struck with a heavy metal pipe," said Chief Medical Examiner Kanthi von Guenthner in response to questions by city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle after being called as a rebuttal witness.
Christopher Aki, 21, of Kalihi Valley, is on trial in Circuit Court for second-degree murder in Kahealani's slaying.
Von Guenthner, who had testified earlier in the trial, said yesterday that she also found circular impressions on the girl's body on her left hip and waist area consistent with a pipelike object.
Aki maintains that the girl's uncle Dennis Cacatian is the real killer.
This week, Aki testified that he witnessed Cacatian dropping the large rock on her face twice, then heard the "thump" as Cacatian dropped the rock at least four more times.
Dropping the 40-pound rock from about waist level onto the girl's face at least six times "would have caused crush fractures on Indreginal's small face and skull," von Guenthner said.
Indreginal's jawbone and palate were the only bones in her body that fractured. Her nasal and facial bones and skull were intact.
"This rock could not have caused the injuries I saw on her face," von Guenthner said. "If this was the weapon that was used, it would have crushed her facial bones and skull."
Prosecutors maintain Aki confessed to killing the girl by beating her repeatedly in the back of the head with a metal pipe that he found at the park after he allegedly "snapped." He also said he poked her with the pipe to see if she was still breathing.
A mainland lab had tested the rock that was recovered by defense investigators and found blood and tissue that was embedded in its crevices as belonging to Kahealani.
When asked by deputy public defender Todd Eddins to explain how Kahealani's blood and hair could have gotten on the rock, von Guenthner said the girl could have fallen on it.
Cacatian was called as a witness by the defense on Thursday, but he exercised his Fifth Amendment right not to testify.
Had there been any evidence of Cacatian's involvement as a co-defendant, co-conspirator or accomplice, police would have sought charges against him or Carlisle would have indicted him, said his attorney, Michael Park, outside the courtroom.
"My client is in a very difficult position," he said. "No matter what he says, someone is going to say he's lying and allege he committed perjury."
Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall ruled that the jury will not hear that Cacatian invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination or hear any statements he made to police after he was arrested in February 2003 on charges unrelated to Kahealani's killing.
She also agreed with prosecutors and ruled that tape-recorded statements Cacatian's brother, Eldefonso "Pancho" Cacatian, gave to police during the weekend before he lapsed into a coma, apparently of a drug overdose, were not admissible because they were not reliable.
Eddins argued that the statements were relevant because they corroborate what Aki has been alleging about Dennis Cacatian's involvement in illegal activities.