The state Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld yesterday the murder conviction of Shane Mark for the shooting death of a Honolulu police officer but overturned his prison sentence.

A state jury found Mark guilty of second-degree murder and using a firearm to commit the murder in the March 4, 2003, shooting death of 12-year police veteran Glen Gaspar. Gaspar and other plainclothes officers went to a Kapolei ice cream parlor to arrest Mark for a previous shooting.

Circuit Judge Karen Ahn agreed with the state that Mark poses a danger to the community and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility for parole for the murder and life in prison with the possibility for parole for using the firearm to commit the murder.

The normal penalty for second-degree murder is life in prison with the possibility for parole, and 20 years for using a firearm to commit a felony.

Since then the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that juries, not judges, need to determine whether a convicted felon poses a danger to the community and therefore qualifies for a harsher penalty.

The appellate court remanded Mark's case to Circuit Court for resentencing.