honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 4:16 p.m., Monday, December 22, 2003

Mark convicted of 2nd-degree murder in Gaspar shooting

Advertiser Staff

A state jury today convicted Shane Mark of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Honolulu police officer Glen Gaspar March 4 at the Kapolei Shopping Center.

Mark had been charged with first-degree murder, but the jury found him guilty of the lesser offense of second-degree murder.

The jury also failed to reach a verdict in the attempted-murder charge against Mark, who allegedly tried to shoot Gaspar's fellow officer, Calvin Sung.

A charge of first-degree murder may be sought in killings such as that of a law enforcement officer, judge or in the case of murder for hire. Conviction on that charge carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole. A second-degree murder conviction carries a life sentence with the possibility of parole.

Gaspar, 40, and Sung were part of a six-man plainclothes police unit that went to the Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop in the Kapolei Shopping Center to arrest Mark in connection with a Feb. 1 shooting at a Moanalua church parking lot.

Mark claimed he shot Gaspar in self-defense after two police officers grabbed him without identifying themselves, leading Mark to believe they were retaliating for the Feb. 1 shooting.

The prosecution claimed there was no reason for Mark to shoot at th two men in the Feb. 1 incident, and even less to shoot Gaspar. Prosecutors said Mark knew Gaspar and Sung were police officers as they approached.