"It definitely is a punishment that fits the crime," said Tenari Maafala, president of the State of Hawai'i Organization of Police Officers. "It sends out a message that we can have faith in our judiciary system."

Mark, 29, was convicted of second-degree murder for Gaspar's death when a Circuit Court jury in December found that the prosecution failed to prove Marks knew Gaspar, who was in plainclothes, was an officer. A second-degree murder conviction carries a sentence of life with the possibility of parole.

Killing a police officer carries a mandatory life term without parole.

Even though two juries found him guilty of lesser charges, Circuit Judge Karen Ahn yesterday imposed the harshest sentence allowed by law.

Acting Police Chief Glen Kajiyama hailed the sentence.

"Individuals like Mr. Mark should be, and need to be, held accountable for their actions and decisions," he said. "We are thankful that Mr. Mark will not be able to harm anyone in the community again."

Although Mark's lawyers said they will appeal, the sentencing ends for now the story of the daytime shooting that left one policeman dead and passersby at the sedate suburban shopping center scurrying for cover.

Gaspar and fellow plainclothes officer Calvin Sung had gone to the Baskin-Robbins to arrest Mark in connection with a shooting at a church parking lot that had occurred about a month earlier.

But Mark pulled out a handgun, and shot Gaspar during a struggle over the weapon.

Gaspar, 40, was the 37th Honolulu police officer killed in the line of duty.

Mark went to trial twice for the shootings. In December, the jury convicted Mark of slaying Gaspar, but was not able to reach a verdict on whether Mark tried to kill Sung. In the retrial, which ended last week, the jury rejected a first-degree attempted murder verdict that he tried to kill an officer and found Mark guilty of the lesser offense of trying to assault Sung.

Ahn sentenced Mark yesterday for the Gaspar murder and eight felony convictions from both trials.

They included the attempted assault of Sung, firearm and drug offenses and assaulting the man shot in the church parking lot Feb. 1, 2003. Those sentences will run concurrently.

The sentencing came after Gaspar's ex-wife Renee, Gaspar's brother and others urged Ahn to impose the maximum sentence under state law.

HPD officers showed up to see Shane Mark sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Renee Gaspar hugs family friend Cheryl Borges after the emotional day in court.

Greig Gaspar, brother of the slain HPD officer, heard Shane Mark's apology and the court's sentence. Mark's lawyers say they plan to appeal the conviction.

During the hearing, Mark apologized, turning to the courtroom gallery and saying he was sorry that Gaspar died. "He was a good man, an awesome man," Mark said.

But to the relatives, the words didn't ring true. "I think it has become very difficult to even think ... (Mark) has changed or will change," Greig Gaspar said afterward.

Those remarks "didn't mean anything," said Renee, who had remained close to her ex-husband. "Nothing he (Mark) could say could mean anything."

During sentencing, deputy public defender Debra Loy told Ahn that Mark was not a "monster," but rather a man who felt "cornered" at the ice cream store because he believed he was being attacked by men he didn't know were law enforcement officers.

"This is not a man who has been gunning for police," she said.

Loy portrayed her client as the product of a troubled upbringing. His mother had abandoned him when he was three months old. He was enrolled in special-education classes until the ninth grade before he dropped out of school, Loy said.

Although Mark was found responsible for the shooting, Loy reasoned that if police had handled the arrest "responsibly, professionally," Gaspar would still be alive.

She said the disciplining of officers involved in the fatal shooting was a "step in the right direction for accepting responsibility."

Police Lt. Bill Kato, who was in charge of the plainclothes unit sent out to arrest Mark, has been demoted, having been busted to the rank of sergeant for six months. Kato returns to his post as lieutenant today. Four other officers were disciplined, following an internal police review, for violating procedures, including not wearing bullet-proof vests.

In asking for life without parole, the city deputy prosecutor reminded the court Mark had four prior convictions, including assaulting a police officer, and had spent five years in prison unable to get parole because he violated rules, including possession of methamphetamine.

After his release from prison in November 2001, Mark bought the handgun he used in the shootings with $150 worth of methamphetamine, then shot a man at the parking lot. He later shot and killed Gaspar at the shopping center, all within a span of three months, Chris Van Marter said.

By law, Mark will be able to ask the governor for a commutation of his sentence to life with possibility of parole after he serves 20 years.