Declaring they will no longer suffer in silence, the parents of the man who was shot and killed by federal agent Christopher Deedy two years ago blasted city prosecutors Friday for breaking promises and botching the case that ended up in a mistrial.
"We actually believed justice would be done," Jenell Elderts told reporters.
Kollin Elderts, 23, of Kailua was allegedly shot and killed at a Waikiki McDonald’s on Nov. 5, 2011, by the then 27-year-old Deedy, a State Department agent on Oahu to provide security for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference.
The trial ended Aug. 26 with the jury deadlocked 8-4 and unable to reach a verdict on a second-degree murder charge. A retrial is scheduled for June.
Parents Jenell and Kendall Elderts spoke to the media Friday in the Honolulu office of their attorney, Michael Green, who is representing the Elderts family in a lawsuit against Deedy seeking monetary damages.
The Eldertses told reporters they were lied to and abandoned by prosecutors. They were promised the charge of manslaughter would be an option in the trial, they said, but then were stunned as state attorneys asked the judge to let the jury decide only on the second-degree murder charge.
City Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro denied the Eldertses’ assertions in a brief statement.
"No promises were ever made regarding charges," he said, adding only that "we prosecute cases according to the evidence and the law and are not influenced by civil cases."
The Eldertses and their attorney said they were dumbfounded when Kaneshiro announced the retrial would be prosecuted with the same deputy prosecutor, same witnesses, same evidence and same second-degree murder charge.
"Does Kaneshiro expect a different result? That is the definition of insanity," Jenell Elderts said.
The couple called for a more aggressive prosecutor to take over the case.
"We have nothing personal against (City Deputy Prosecutor) Jan Futa. Perhaps she was overwhelmed by this case," the mother said.
Jenell Elderts said they were disturbed when Futa was quoted after the trial saying her greatest concern was getting her witnesses to court on time.
"That hurt," Jenell Elderts said.
Futa could not be reached for comment. After the trial, Futa told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser she had no regrets about manslaughter not being an option. She also said that without new evidence, there is nothing to support pursuing a manslaughter charge for the retrial.
Kaneshiro echoed her remarks later and added that it’s the judge’s responsibility under a Hawaii Supreme Court ruling to determine whether there’s a basis to give the jurors the choice of returning a conviction on the lesser offense.
He said the judge must make the decision regardless of what the lawyers in a trial recommend.
Circuit Judge Karen Ahn had ruled earlier that she wasn’t going to allow jurors to return a manslaughter verdict because she didn’t think there was evidence to support that option.
During the trail, prosecutors contended that Deedy was as an inexperienced agent who was intoxicated and acting defensively after being told that Hawaii locals could be hostile toward outsiders. The defense countered that Deedy was acting in self-defense and protecting others from an aggressive Elderts, who Deedy claimed was harassing another customer. Deedy testified that he fired his gun while Elderts was on top of him and throwing punches. Elderts, who was unarmed, died of a single gunshot wound to the chest.
The Eldertses said Friday that they remained silent up to now because they didn’t want to be accused of influencing the outcome of the trial.
"That’s no longer our concern," said Jenell Elderts.
The couple told reporters the trial was an agonizing ordeal for them. Kendall Elderts said he quit his job so he could attend the trial every day.
"It was painful," the man said, adding that he relied on family to get him through the seven-week court proceeding. "It was the same thing every day: the stress."
Kendall Elderts said Kollin was a happy, upstanding citizen who didn’t deserve to die the way he did.
"We will never stop speaking out for our son," his wife said. "He deserves exactly the same rights and concessions given by the prosecutor to Deedy."
