A Circuit Court jury will resume deliberations Monday on a murder charge against a man accused of brutally stomping a victim’s head following a botched attempted to purchase crystal methamphetamine for $7.
The jury deliberated for about an hour Friday on the charge against Vito John Talo, 28, over the beating of 54-year-old Damaso Domingo early Jan. 13, 2009, on School Street near Lanakila Avenue.
Vito John Talo:
He is charged with
stomping a man to
death in a dispute that
was triggered by a
botched drug deal
During closing arguments, city Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bell said Domingo’s companion, Pak Im Gustafson, gave Talo $7 to buy "ice" from him. Talo did not have the drug and instead punched Gustafson in the face, Bell said.
Domingo pulled a knife and charged Aitasi Legatasia, who was with Talo, the prosecutor said.
Legatasia punched Domingo in the face, but Talo was the only one who stomped on the victim, Bell said.
Bell’s remarks to the jury were largely based on the account from Legatasia, who testified for the prosecution.
Legatasia, 22, was charged with misdemeanor assault in the case. He pleaded no contest to the charge, which was later dismissed after he stayed out of trouble for a year.
Bell also told the jury Domingo had been smoking ice with Gustafson earlier, but "nothing he did invited or justified the violence that occurred."
Talo’s defense was that he wasn’t with Legatasia.
Talo’s lawyer, Richard Hoke, told the jury Legatasia was a "bald-faced liar" and suggested that he was protecting a friend who would drink and hang out with Legatasia near the beating.
Hoke said it was Legatasia and the friend who were selling drugs, but they didn’t want to break up their ice into smaller chunks for $7.
The defense lawyer also questioned why Domingo would pull a knife and charge Legatasia, "a big guy" who weighed 350 pounds.
"There’s a lot of reasonable doubt in this case," Hoke told the jury.
Domingo was beaten so badly that he wasn’t recognized by his daughter, the intensive-care doctor, when he was taken to the Queen’s Medical Center.
He died two days later.
The jury also has the option of finding Talo guilty of a lesser offense of manslaughter.
