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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Tuesday, July 8, 2003

Jury finds man guilty in Ala Wai shooting case

Advertiser Staff

A Circuit Court jury deliberated for only about an hour yesterday before finding 26-year-old Anibal Ortiz guilty of second-degree murder for the Dec. 28 shooting of Odin Ortiz at the Ala Wai baseball field.

The two men were not related.

Ortiz did not take the stand during the 10-day trial, but his lawyer, state Deputy Public Defender Jerry Villanueva, maintained that it was a case of mistaken identity and that Anibal Ortiz was a mile away at a friend's apartment when Odin Ortiz, 37, was shot.

But city Deputy Prosecutor Franklin "Don" Pacarro said two men witnessed the shooting and that when Anibal Ortiz was arrested at a Nanakuli Beach two days later, the handgun used in the shooting was found buried in the sand a few feet from where he was taken into custody.

Ortiz faces life in prison with the possibility of parole and is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 17.

Circuit Judge Richard Perkins denied Pacarro's request to hold the defendant without bail, but increased the bail from $100,000 to $300,000.

Anibal Ortiz has been held at O'ahu Community Correctional Center since Dec. 30.