Man found guilty in murder of bookie
A Circuit Court jury deliberated for about a day before finding Donny Hiramoto of Waimanalo guilty of second-degree murder for shooting his bookie in the parking garage of his Makiki apartment.
Prosecutors said Hiramoto, 33, owed retired accountant Robert Lee $8,000 and admitted he was at Lee's building the night of the murder, Dec. 22, 2004, but claimed someone else was responsible for Lee's death.
Hiramoto testified he went to make a payment but fled after seeing an unidentified man with a gun approaching Lee and heard what sounded like a "pop."
Deputy prosecutor Darrel Wong said the case was based on strong circumstantial evidence that included surveillance camera footage showing Hiramoto in the garage area around the time of the shooting. He credited the jury with seeing through Hiramoto's lies and his claim that an unidentified gunman was responsible.
Hiramoto repeatedly lied to police about his involvement early on, saying he was not even there that night. The surveillance video did not show Lee being shot, but the cameras also did not capture images of the "phantom shooter" Hiramoto alleged was responsible, Wong said.
Hiramoto, a construction laborer, appeared stunned as the court clerk announced the guilty verdicts while his wife and three daughters, ages 2, 10 and 14, looked on.
As the news sunk in, wife Melinda and his two older girls began sobbing quietly, then in earnest as the couple's 2-year-old napped in her stroller nearby.
Despite the defense pleas to allow Hiramoto to turn himself in at a later date, Circuit Judge Steve Alm revoked Hiramoto's bail and ordered that he be taken into custody immediately.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Hawk said later that Hiramoto was upset and his family was "broken up into a million pieces" over the verdict. They plan to appeal.
"The jury made the wrong decision," Hawk said. "They convicted an innocent man."
He disagrees with the prosecutor's view of the video, saying all it showed was that Hiramoto was in the area.
He said Hiramoto did not come forward with his claim that someone else was responsible until he took the stand earlier this week because he was afraid for his safety.
"He didn't say anything until he absolutely had to -- when his life was on the line," Hawk said.
The defense believes that Hiramoto, not Lee, was the gunman's target that night and that whoever it was could very well be in Halawa, where Hiramoto will be transferred shortly.
Jane Lee, Robert Lee's widow, told Wong later that she was "relieved" at the outcome of the trial. The couple had retired from jobs in the federal government before returning to the islands.
Second-degree murder is punishable by life with the possibility of parole.
Because a gun was used, Hiramoto faces a mandatory 15 years in prison.