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City prosecutor appeals Deedy decision

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GEORGE F. LEE / 2014

Special Agent Christopher Deedy awaits the resumption of proceedings for the November 2011 shooting death of Kollin Elderts. Honolulu prosecutors are appealing a judge’s ruling saying Deedy can’t be tried a third time.

Honolulu prosecutors are appealing a judge’s ruling saying federal agent Christopher Deedy can’t be tried a third time for fatally shooting an Oahu man in a Waikiki fast-food restaurant.

City Prosecuting Attorney Keith Kaneshiro filed the appeal Wednesday to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

A federal judge in Honolulu ruled last month that prosecutors may not proceed with a retrial against Deedy, a U.S. State Department special agent who was in Honolulu for the November 2011 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit when he shot Kollin Elderts during an early-morning altercation in a McDonald’s.

A 2013 murder trial ended in a hung jury. A second jury in 2014 acquitted him of murder but deadlocked on manslaughter. Deedy’s defense attorneys argued a third trial on manslaughter would violate the double jeopardy clause of the Constitution.

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