Man pleads guilty to murdering owner of Kane'ohe Bay convenience store

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

A Kane'ohe man pleaded guilty in Circuit Court yesterday to second-degree murder in the 2000 Christmas Eve shooting death of convenience store owner Song Chol Marshall.

Marshall, 45, was shot in the head while walking toward his Chevrolet van after closing up Angie's Market on Kane'ohe Bay Drive at about 10:45 p.m.

His body was found Christmas Day in a trash bin near a plate lunch restaurant in Waimanalo.

Marshall's death sent shock waves throughout O'ahu's Korean community, members of which asked Honolulu Police Chief Lee Donohue, who is part Korean, to redouble his department's efforts to find those responsible.

Police pieced the case together through information obtained from street leads, CrimeStoppers tips and intelligence gathered from other police divisions, and within three weeks officers arrested Eric Vance and four others.

City Deputy Prosecutor Lori Wada said that Vance had filed five requests with the court to have evidence in the case suppressed, lost each of them and "finally decided to plead guilty."

Vance was the only one charged with murder in the case because "he was the shooter," Wada said.

In addition to murder, Vance also pleaded guilty yesterday to first-degree robbery, car theft and two firearms charges.

He faces a mandatory term of life in prison with the possibility of parole when he is sentenced March 24.

Two others charged in the case, James Hoapili and Sheldon Barques pleaded guilty to robbery charges and are to be sentenced in February. Albert Hoapili Jr. and Gabriel Apilando are scheduled to go to trial early next year.