Request to transfer Deedy case is denied

A federal judge denied a bid Tuesday by State Department agent Christopher Deedy to seek a transfer of his murder case to federal court.

U.S. District Judge Leslie Koba­ya­shi’s ruling clears the way for the resumption of the murder prosecution in state courts, but because of pretrial issues, the trial set for September will be postponed.

No new trial date has been set.

Deedy, 28, of Virginia, a State Department special agent here to provide security for the Asian Pacific Economic Conference summit last fall, is charged with murder in the shooting of Kollin Elderts, 23, in the early morning of Nov. 5 at the McDonald’s restaurant on Kuhio Avenue.

Deedy missed the federal deadline of 30 days after his arraignment to ask for the transfer.

But his lawyer Brook Hart argued that because of later developments, he had good reason to ask for permission to file the transfer request after the deadline.

City Deputy Prosecutor Janice Futa opposed granting permission.

Kobayashi said that after carefully reviewing the defense request and opposition, she was denying the defense motion for permission to file the transfer request.

She said she will later file a written order.

After Kobayashi issued her ruling, Circuit Judge Karen Ahn scheduled a hearing for Oct. 22 to deal with a defense motion to dismiss the murder charge.

Deedy’s defense contends that he is immune from prosecution by the state because he was acting as a federal law enforcement officer.

Ahn wants legal arguments from the defense and prosecution on when that dismissal motion should be heard and whether a judge or jury should hear it.

The scheduling of the hearing for Oct. 22 suggests that the trial won’t be held until sometime after that date.

At the request of city prosecutors, Ahn sealed a copy of McDonald’s surveillance videos of events at the restaurant.

The defense had attached copies of the videos to the dismissal motion.

The judge suggested that the videos might be made public either at trial or when the dismissal request is decided.

The videos remain sealed.

Deedy is accused of firing the fatal shot to Elderts’ chest without justification, but the defense has maintained that Deedy fired his weapon to protect himself from Elderts, who had tried to take away Deedy’s gun and was punching the agent.