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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Mistrial in Ka'ena Point murder case


By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Patrick Deguair Jr.

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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Jermaine Duckworth

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The prosecution said it will seek a new trial after a mistrial was declared yesterday in the murder case against Patrick Deguair Jr.

A Circuit Court jury deliberated over six days before declaring it could not reach a unanimous verdict on charges that Deguair murdered Jermaine Duckworth "execution-style" in March at Ka'ena Point.

The jury also could not agree on kidnapping and three firearms charges against Deguair. The jury did acquit him of two drug offenses.

Circuit Judge Michael Town set Feb. 22 as a new trial date.

Defense attorney Neal Kugiya said he was "pleased" at the acquittal verdict on the drug charges and said his client will be acquitted of all charges in the retrial.

Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bell said he "respects the service and the time" the jurors put into the case.

"We will go forward in the subsequent retrial," Bell said.

The trial lasted eight days, and the jury began deliberating late in the afternoon of Nov. 3.

Nov. 6 was a "furlough Friday" in state courts so jurors did not meet that day or on Veterans Day.

At one point jurors asked for a transcript of testimony delivered by the key prosecution witness, David Teo, who said he saw Deguair shoot Duckworth in the back of the head and push the body over a coastal cliff.

Deguair testified in his own defense, naming Teo as the killer.

Prosecutors and police alleged that Duckworth was murdered because Deguair believed Duckworth was a police informant.

Deguair, 32, of 'Ewa Beach, is also awaiting trial on robbery, kidnapping and weapons charges related to the November 2007 armed invasion of a Wai'anae home and the April 2008 armed robbery of an 'Aiea pool hall. Duckworth was a co-defendant with Deguair in the Nov. 7 case.

The drug charges against Deguair in the murder case were filed after police found drugs and paraphernalia in a hotel room when he was arrested in April.

But co-defendant Aryss Kamai testified in the trial that the drugs belonged to him.