Man found guilty of Waipahu killing
By Ken Kobayashi
Advertiser Courts Writer
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Prosecutors will seek the state's harshest sentence of life in prison without parole for a 27-year-old man convicted yesterday of a shotgun murder in Waipahu.
Emanuelu Tunoa was found guilty by a Circuit Court jury of murder as the gunman who shot Tuputala Esau, 21, of Waipahu, three times in the chest, face and back at Leokane Street on March 29, 2003.
The prosecution produced four witnesses who testified that Tunoa fired the shots. The defense said the witnesses had motives to lie, and Tunoa was passed out drunk in a car and did not shoot Esau.
Tunoa did not testify, but his brother Patolo Scanlan-Tunoa said Tunoa drank two cases of beer that night, according to Tunoa's defense lawyer Myles Breiner.
The jury deliberated for two days before returning the guilty verdicts.
Tunoa showed little emotion when the verdicts were announced.
Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto scheduled sentencing for Jan. 10. Tunoa faces an automatic life term with parole for the murder conviction.
But city Deputy Prosecutor Albert Cook said he will ask for the enhanced sentence of life without parole for Tunoa as a danger to the community.
Cook said he will cite Tunoa's second-degree assault conviction in the beating death of 17-year-old Misiona Faumuina outside the Waipahu Recreation Center in 1995. Tunoa was one of three teenagers charged with murder in what the prosecutors called a gang beating.
All three were convicted of lesser charges. Tu-noa was sentenced to a four-year term for assault.
"I'm very, very happy that the jury did the right thing," Cook said yesterday. "I feel like justice was done in this case, especially for the family of Tuputala Esau and the witnesses who testified. It took a lot of courage for them to come forward and to tell their story."
Breiner said his client will appeal the convictions and he will oppose the life term without parole. The defense lawyer will also dispute his client poses a danger to the community.
Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled City Deputy Prosecutor Albert Cook's name.
