Man pleads no contest in strangling of woman

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

A 40-year-old man pleaded no contest in Circuit Court yesterday to the November 2002 strangulation of a Mo'ili'ili woman, whose decapitated body was discovered in a Waikiki apartment.

Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall set a sentencing date of July 19, for Donald B. Marks, who faces a mandatory term of life with the possibility of parole.

However, Deputy Prosecutor Kevin Takata has indicated he will seek an enhanced sentence of life without parole based on extreme cruelty or depravity in the killing of Yoko Sanders, whose head was found in a trash bag next to her body.

Investigators and police say Marks strangled Sanders, 38, then cut her head off.

In court documents filed recently, Marks' lawyer, Myles Breiner, said Sanders was a known Waikiki prostitute and that she had engaged in consensual sex-for-pay with Marks.

Breiner said he planned to argue at trial Sanders was engaged in asphyxiophilia, or the deliberate restriction of oxygen to the brain in hopes of enhancing the sexual experience. Breiner said the defense intended to argue that Saunders' death was the unintended result of Marks being in "a state of panic."

Breiner said Marks suffers from liver cancer, has only a year or two to live, and wanted to spare his girlfriend and family members the emotional trauma of a trial.

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