Mark murder trial goes to jury

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

The case of an O'ahu man who admits killing a police officer who was trying to arrest him March 4 at a Kapolei ice cream store went to the jury yesterday with the defense arguing self-defense.

Shane Mark, 29, does not dispute that he shot plainclothes officer Glen Gaspar, 40, at the Baskin-Robbins shop, but said Gaspar and fellow officer Calvin Sung never identified themselves as police officers as they approached him.

Gaspar and Sung were part of a six-man plainclothes team that went to Kapolei to arrest Mark on charges of attempted murder stemming from a Feb. 1 shooting. In that shooting, police said, Mark wounded a man and fired at another in the parking lot of a church.

Mark testified that when Gaspar and Sung came at him in the ice cream store, he believed they were someone else and were trying to retaliate for that shooting.

But city Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Van Marter, in his closing argument, said Mark knew that Gaspar and Sung were police officers.

Van Marter pointed out how Sung testified that he and Gaspar pulled up their shirts and showed Mark their police badges, attached to their belts, as they approached Mark, "who was looking right at them."

Van Marter said the evidence showed that Mark had an unobstructed view of Gaspar and Sung from the time they entered the store and that as the two approached Mark, Sung told him, "Put your hands up — police!" Van Marter said the audio portion of a videotape of the seconds leading up to the shooting verifies what Sung said about telling Mark to put his hands up.

Van Marter played the tape four times to emphasize his point and said other witnesses who were present during the shooting recalled hearing Gaspar and Sung as well as other police officers identify themselves.

But state Deputy Public Defender Debra Loy told the jury that the two men whom Mark shot at in the Feb. 1 incident were threatening to retaliate and that the threats led to intense fear on Mark's part.

Loy said Van Marter produced no evidence at trial that showed Mark had made a pledge not to be taken alive or to "shoot his way out" of any attempt by police to arrest him. The evidence did not show Mark knew, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Gaspar and Sung were police officers, Loy said.

"What would a reasonable person have done if they were in Shane Mark's shoes that day?" Loy asked.

Reach David Waite at 525-8030 or dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com.