Court reverses murder verdicts in '98 Wai'anae death
By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco yesterday overturned the murder convictions of two Wai'anae Coast youths in the 1998 shooting of Army helicopter pilot John Latchum Jr. at the Wai'anae Army Recreation Center.
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Bryson Jose, who was 20 when Latchum was shot, and Roberto Miguel, who was 17, were found guilty of felony murder in December 2000 and sentenced to life without parole.
Bryson Jose, top, and Roberto Miguel were found guilty in 2000 and sentenced to life in prison.
But a three-judge panel of the appeals court voted 2-1 that U.S. District Court Judge Helen Gillmor made a mistake when she stopped Public Defender Peter Wolff from suggesting to the federal jury that another youth may have fired the bullet that killed Latchum.
A third man originally charged with murder, Keala Leong, pleaded guilty to attempted burglary. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dropped the murder charge. Leong was sentenced to 10 years.
The appeal was based on grounds by the defense that a shell casing from the rifle that fired the fatal shot was found 114 feet from the cabin whereas prosecution witnesses said Jose and Miguel, who prosecutors said was the gunman, were 30 to 40 feet from the cabin.
When defense attorneys argued that one of the witnesses — and not Miguel — may have fired the rifle, Gillmor said there was no evidence of that and instructed the jury to discount it.
In not allowing the defense to present such an argument during closing remarks, the appeals court said, Gillmor incorrectly determined there was no evidence supporting the idea that witness Donald Calarruda was the gunman. The appeals court also said Gillmor erred in determining Miguel's attorney did not have a good-faith basis to offer such an argument because he'd stated in earlier proceedings that Miguel was the gunman.
John and Wendy Latchum were spending a long weekend at the recreation center in June 1998 with their two young children when the murder occurred. John Latchum had gone to bed for the night while his wife stayed up to watch television.
She was startled just before midnight by what sounded like someone trying to break into their cabin. She called for her husband, who ran onto the porch and yelled at a group of young men to leave.
Seconds later, John Latchum was shot in the heart by a .22-caliber bullet fired from the rifle. He died on the porch within minutes.
According to court records, on June 2, 1998, Miguel, Jose, Leong and Calarruda were carousing with several friends, including Keoni Tapaoan, Jason Afong and Eddie Lovell, and went to Wai'anae to drink and gamble.
Calarruda brought along a sawed-off rifle that was handed around to others in the group, according to testimony.
During the trial, the defense focused on the inconsistency between the physical evidence from the scene, particularly the location of the shell casing, and the accounts given by Calarruda, Tapaoan and Afong.
The defense suggested that Calarruda and Tapaoan colluded to blame Jose and Miguel for the shooting.
The appeals court noted that the shell casing was 114 feet from the porch where Latchum was standing but a prosecution expert testified that a casing ejected from the rifle would go about 5 to 10 feet.
"From this testimony, the jury could infer that the shooter was more than 100 feet from the cabin," the appeals court said.
The appeals court affirmed the uncontested convictions of Jose and Miguel on robbery, burglary, firearm and and drug charges.
While the ruling may mean a new murder trial for Jose and Miguel, they won't be released from prison. Miguel was also sentenced to 40 years on the firearms and other charges; Jose received a 10-year sentence for possession of an unregistered firearm.
Assistant U.S Attorney Ron Johnson, who prosecuted the case, and Wolff, who filed the appeal on behalf of Miguel, could not be reached for immediate comment.
Attorney Barry Edwards, who filed the appeal on behalf of Jose, said he was pleased with the ruling and called it "a correct one, given the facts of the matter."
Wendy Latchum and the victim's father, John Latchum Sr., live on the Mainland and could not be reached last night to comment.
Wendy Latchum later filed a lawsuit against the Army, blaming substandard security arrangements at the Wai'anae Army Recreation Center, which had a long history of burglaries and other problems. Her lawsuit was dismissed, however, after another judge concluded that John Latchum Jr. had been killed in the line of duty.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
