The daughter of a man who was shot in the chest and back of the head in his home is not happy with the deal prosecutors made with her father’s killer.
Leimomi Aki insists all of the people who had a hand in her father’s murder should get the harshest possible penalty.
“It’s too bad that we don’t have a death sentence for this kind of crime,” Aki said.
It was Leimomi who discovered the body of her 65-year-old father, William “Bill” Aki, in his Whitmore Village home around midnight June 24, 2015.
Deputy Prosecutor Scott Spallina told a state jury Friday that Aki’s then-26-year-old girlfriend, Anjelita Rasa, whom Aki had kicked out of the house just two weeks before the murder, and Rasa’s “side salad” boyfriend, Shaun Branco-Taguchi, shot Aki with a .22-caliber rifle provided by Branco-Taguchi’s cousin Shane Rodrigues. He said Branco-Taguchi, Rodrigues and Rodrigues’ girlfriend, Jessica Samson, then set fire to Aki’s car near Makua Cave.
Branco-Taguchi is standing trial for murder, Rodrigues for being an accessory to murder, and both men are standing trial for firearm offenses and arson. If they are found guilty, they face mandatory life prison terms.
Samson pleaded no contest to arson before trial.
Rasa pleaded guilty to robbery and is expected to testify against Branco-Taguchi and Rodrigues in a deal that will send her to prison for 20 years with the possibility of getting released on parole after fewer than seven years.
Spallina told the jury that Rasa shot Aki, closing her eyes before pulling the trigger.
“She was involved in the killing of Bill, but she didn’t do it alone,” Spallina said.
He said Rasa shot Aki in the chest, and Branco-Taguchi shot Aki in the back of the head. Spallina said Aki was able to dial 911 on his cellphone between the time Rasa left the home when she realized Aki was still alive and when Branco-Taguchi finished off Aki.
Honolulu Medical Examiner Dr. Rachel Lange testified Friday that Aki died from gunshot wounds.
Spallina said Rasa took Aki’s ATM card and car keys from Aki’s body but did not tell the jury how strands of long hair wound up in both of Aki’s hands.
Leimomi Aki testified that she had told her father that Rasa was using him and that she helped her father pack up Rasa’s things when her father kicked Rasa out. She said she spent June 23 with her father until he dropped her off in the early evening because he was expecting Rasa to stop by for a talk and he wasn’t sure how it would turn out.
Aki said Rasa was mean to her father, that they fought often and that the fights were violent. She also said that on two occasions before Rasa was kicked out that Rasa told her if she had a gun her father would be dead. She also said that Rasa told her she would burn her father’s car if anything stupid happened.
Branco-Taguchi’s lawyer, Steven Nichols, told the jury Friday that his client didn’t know William Aki, had never met him and had no reason to kill Aki. He said only Rasa had a motive to kill Aki.
“She was enraged at him for kicking her out of the house, cutting her off from the home that she lived in, cutting her off from her source of money to spend on herself, to spend on drugs,” he said.
Nichols said Branco-Taguchi never stepped into Aki’s home and had no idea Rasa was going to kill Aki when he went with her to Whitmore Village and waited for her outside.
Rodrigues also didn’t know and never met Aki, his lawyer, Randall Hironaka, told the jury Friday. He said Rodrigues did not provide the gun that killed Aki and wasn’t in on any plan to kill him.
“You’re not going to hear a conversation about Shane … harming or stealing from William Aki,” Hironaka said.