Two Honolulu homicide police detectives contradicted each other in their testimony yesterday over whether one told the other to falsify or backdate a police request in connection with a murder case.

Detective Sheryl Sunia, who is under a police internal-affairs investigation over allegations including that she made the request, denied she asked Detective Larry Tamashiro to backdate the request for ballistic testing on two rifles.

Tamashiro testified Sunia specifically used the words, "backdate the request."

"She wanted me to backdate it," he said.

Circuit Judge Michael Town apparently found the inconsistency so startling, he asked a longtime criminal defense lawyer "How many times in your career have you had two detectives 180 degrees contradict each other?"

"Zero," said defense lawyer Richard Hoke. "This is the first time."

At the request of defense lawyers, Town said he will allow them to bring up the dispute in the murder retrial of defendants charged as the masked gunmen who shot and killed Greg Morishima in an 'Aiea garage in 2003.

Sunia has been reassigned to the communications division and has been stripped of her gun, badge and radio, pending the outcome of the internal affairs investigation.

The first trial ended in a hung jury in April. Sunia, the lead detective in the case, testified that Tamashiro was working on the ballistics test.

On the witness stand yesterday, Sunia said after she testified on that point, she asked Tamashiro about the test and he told her he had not submitted it, a response that upset Sunia.

"He said he forgot to submit it," Sunia testified.

Sunia said she told Tamashiro to submit it that day and let the prosecution know he was submitting the request.

She said she might have used a "poor choice of words" and might have mentioned "backdated" or "dated back" in trying to determine if Tamashiro had done anything earlier.

But she said she never intended that Tamashiro do anything illegal.

Tamashiro, however, was equally adamant in his testimony that Sunia told him to backdate the request. Asked if he was "absolutely certain," he said, "Yes."

He said he had not submitted the request as Sunia had asked and could tell she was upset when he told her he didn't do it. He said he had been "too busy."

Tamashiro said he refused to backdate the request. "I told her, 'Absolutely not.' "

The defense lawyers argued the jury in the retrial should be able to hear about the backdating allegation to show Sunia was a "dishonest detective" in charge of a "sloppy" and "inept" police investigation.

In the first trial, the defense maintained that police should not have trusted Kevin Harris, who turned out to be the key prosecution witness. They argued Harris wanted to deflect blame from himself and the real gunman in falsely accusing the three murder defendants.

The defense believes the ballistics test is important because it would undermine Harris' statements that the two rifles found in a bag were linked to a 1999 armed-takeover bank robbery in Kahala. The ballistics test conducted after the trial showed the two rifles were replicas and not connected to the robbery.

City Deputy Prosecutor Jean Ireton argued that the dispute over the backdating allegations is irrelevant and should not be introduced in the retrial. Town said he would allow it, but might limit the scope of the questioning or reconsider his ruling, depending on what other evidence is produced.

David Arakawa, Sunia's lawyer, later said his client "told the truth throughout this case." He also said he hired private polygraph operator Edward J. Clarke to test Sunia, and that she passed when she denied asking Tamashiro to backdate the ballistics request.

Micah Kanahele, Rosalino Ramos and Jason Rumbawa are charged with murdering the 49-year-old victim. Anthony K. Brown is charged with robbery as the driver of the getaway vehicle.

Jury selection for the retrial starts Monday.