U.S. State Department Special Agent Christopher Deedy is renewing his request to have a state murder charge against him dismissed, based on his claim that he was performing his duties as a law enforcement officer under federal law when he fatally shot Kollin Elderts in a Waikiki McDonald’s restaurant in 2011.
State Circuit Judge Karen Ahn said Monday that if she rules on the request before the start of Deedy’s second trial, her ruling would put the trial on hold because she expects the losing side will appeal. Jury selection is scheduled to begin next week.
Deedy, 30, of Arlington, Va., is charged with murder for killing Elderts, 23, in the Kuhio Avenue McDonald’s in the early morning hours of Nov. 5, 2011. He was in Honolulu to provide security for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
He’s having to stand trial a second time because the first trial, last summer, ended in a mistrial. After listening to six weeks of testimony, the jurors were unable to agree on a verdict.
Before that first trial, Deedy made the same request to dismiss the murder charge. He later withdrew the request because his then-lawyer, Brook Hart, said a hearing on the motion would have essentially been the same as the trial, involving the same evidence and witness testimony.
If Ahn were to rule against him, Deedy would have had to go through the whole process and expense again, Hart said.
Ahn repeated that assessment Monday.
Deputy Prosecutor Janice Futa told Ahn that a hearing on the dismissal should be held before the court selects a jury for the second trial.
Thomas Otake, Deedy’s new lawyer, said that won’t be necessary.
"We’re not asking for a hearing," Otake said,
He told Ahn she can rule on whether to dismiss the charge based on evidence and testimony she heard in last year’s trial.
Ahn has scheduled a hearing on another pretrial motion next week. At that time, Otake said, she can grant the request to dismiss, deny it or reserve ruling for later.
Also on Monday, Ahn ruled that defense lawyers will not be able to present, as they did in the first trial, the entire smartphone video recorded by a man who entered the restaurant after the shooting.
Deputy Prosecutor Chasid Sapolu said portions of the video showing Deedy cutting off Elderts’ shirt after the shooting and attending to Elderts’ wound are not relevant to whether Deedy knowingly or intentionally killed Elderts.
Otake said that part of the video shows, contrary to the testimony of an arresting Honolulu police officer, that Deedy was not drunk.
Ahn ruled that only the portion of the video showing Deedy standing and talking to the officer can be shown to the jury.
