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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, December 11, 2003

Suspected killer of officer called fearful, paranoid

 •  See the video clip shown to jurors yesterday in the murder trial of Shane Mark. Real player required.

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

The man facing first-degree murder charges in the fatal shooting of plainclothes officer Glen Gaspar at the Kapolei Shopping Center feared for his life and was paranoid because of a botched deal involving a computer monitor and a camera, several witnesses testified yesterday, as the defense opened its case in his trial.

MARK
Gaspar was shot during a struggle in an ice cream store at the shopping center as he and fellow officer Calvin Sung attempted to arrest Shane Mark on March 4.

Deputy Public Defender Debra Loy does not dispute that Mark fired the fatal shots. But she said Mark acted in self-defense, because he feared retaliation from two men, one of whom he allegedly had shot in the leg Feb. 1 in the parking of the First Assembly of God Church in Moanalua.

Loy also contends that Gaspar and Sung, both in street clothes, did not identify themselves as police officers as they grabbed Mark, who had no way of knowing who was trying to subdue him.

Manuel Torres III, who said he had known Mark for about five years, testified that Mark had stayed at his Waikiki apartment for three days in late February. One morning, Torres said he saw Mark asleep with a gun near his hand and shouted at Mark to wake up.

Torres said Mark apologized for having the weapon and began to cry. He then confessed that he had shot at two men Feb. 1 and was afraid they would come after him.

Mark said he considered turning himself in to police, but he was afraid there would be friends or relatives of the men he shot at in jail, Torres said.

"He was looking behind his shoulders whatever he was doing," Torres testified.

Torres also testified that he was surprised to see Mark cry.

"I never even know he shot someone," he said.

In November, Mark pleaded no contest to a charge of possessing a firearm in the Feb. 1 incident.

He pleaded no contest to another firearms possession count, as well as possession of crystal methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia after his arrest as a suspect in the Gaspar shooting.

Russell Kimura, a friend of Mark, testified that he was at the church with Mark during the Feb. 1 shooting incident. Kimura said he had bought a computer monitor and surveillance camera through Mark, who had obtained them from at least one of two men, but the camera didn't work and Kimura wanted a refund.

Kimura said he and Mark met the two men in the church parking lot to get the money back, but the man who was supposed to provide the refund refused. Kimura testified that Mark fired at the two men after being threatened by them.

Under cross-examination by city Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Van Marter, Torres and Kimura both said they had not notified police about the shooting. Kimura said he didn't want to get involved, and Torres said he thought Mark was going to turn himself in.

Earlier yesterday, the prosecution showed the jury a home video of the final seconds leading to a struggle between Mark and the two police officers, and the fatal shooting.

The video was taken by John Kortz, current boyfriend of Mark's former girlfriend Melissa Sennett. Kortz testified Tuesday that he had decided to videotape the meeting between Mark and his daughter Shansy, then 10, at the ice cream store because the girl and her mother were about to return home to Kansas.

The jury was shown the video five times, twice in slow motion. It shows Gaspar and Sung reaching for Mark's hands, and one of the officers can be heard saying something to Mark. Van Marter contends that one of the voices in the tape is saying, "Hey, police, get your hands up!"

But when she reviewed the tape last week, Circuit Judge Karen Ahn said she couldn't make out the words and would leave it to the jury to determine what was said.

Reach Curtis Lum at 525-8025 or culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.