Burglary, shooting case goes to jurors

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

The attempted-murder trial of an 18-year-old man accused of shooting a Punchbowl man while burglarizing his home last summer concluded yesterday with City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle saying the shooting was intentional and that Miti Maugaotega Jr. knew that pulling the trigger could result in the man's death.

Maugaotega

moto, he would have stood over him and emptied the .45-caliber pistol into him.

Rodby said Maugaotega never intended to kill Kawamoto or even to use the gun that he took with him while burglarizing Kawamoto's home. Kawamoto was taken to The Queen's Medical Center in critical condition but was released five days later and has since recovered from the shooting.

"This wasn't premeditated," Rodby said, adding that Maugaotega shot Kawamoto who came home unexpectedly in the midst of the burglary.

"This case boils down to the state of mind of Mr. Maugaotega," Rodby said. "No one can actually tell what another person is actually thinking; we have to look at the circumstances," Rodby said.

He acknowledged that Maugaotega robbed Kawamoto by aiming the gun at him and demanding money and that he ordered him to go to the lowest level of his home. Rodby said Kawamoto began to comply and then turned around at the bottom of the steps and began to come back up, prompting Maugaotega to ask why he was coming so close.

"That was a question and also a warning," Rodby said. He asked the jurors to consider Maugaotega's age — 17 at the time of the incident on June 26 — his intelligence and his level of sophistication and to find him guilty of first-degree assault instead of attempted murder. The assault charge carries a sentence ranging from probation to 10 years in prison, compared with a term of life with the possibility of parole for attempted murder.

Carlisle told the jury that Maugaotega was charged with nine criminal offenses — including robbery, burglary, various firearms offenses, promotion of dangerous drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia — and that he essentially admitted to eight of the crimes when he took the stand in his own defense on Wednesday.

"There is one question you have to answer: Did Miti Maugaotega know that shooting a man in the chest is known to cause death," Carlisle said.

He said that while demanding the cash from Kawamoto's wallet, Maugaotega told him, "I am going to (expletive) shoot you," and then ordered Kawamoto down the stairs.

Carlisle said Kawamoto started down the stairs but then stopped and turned around telling Maugaotega, "If you're gonna shoot me, just (expletive) shoot me."

But that was a far cry from inviting Maugaotega to shoot him, Carlisle said. He said Kawamoto had decided that if he went down the stairs, he would surely die so he decided to "stand his ground and face the man with the gun."

"The facts and the circumstances convinced him he was already a dead man if he went downstairs," Carlisle said.

None of the facts surrounding the case suggest that Kawamoto was shot accidentally, Carlisle said.

He called claims that Maugaotega never intended to shoot or kill Kawamoto "a damage control defense" and urged the jury to see through it.

He said Maugaotega admitted flipping off the gun's safety lever, pointing the gun at Kawamoto's chest, pulling the trigger, putting a new bullet into the firing chamber when the first one failed to go off, aiming the gun a second time at Kawamoto's chest and pulling the trigger a second time.

"The defendant shot Eric Kawamoto in the chest from five feet away with a semiautomatic pistol knowing that guns kill," Carlisle said.

The jury was released at 3 p.m. yesterday and is to resume deliberations Monday morning.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.