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The mother of a 20-year-old man who was shot and killed during an evening brawl at Ala Moana Center on Christmas Day 2016 was pleased with Tuesday’s verdict for his killer.
“We got justice for Stevie,” said Fiti Feliciano outside the courtroom. “I know we’re not going to get him back now … but this is it. Now it’s time to move on. I know it’s hard for us to move on, but we put the person that killed him in jail and he’s not going to kill anymore. Hopefully, he’s not going to come out anymore.”
A Circuit Court jury of four women and eight men unanimously found Dae Han Moon guilty on all four counts of second-degree murder and three firearms charges in the 2016 shooting death of Steve “Stevie” Feliciano.
The 22-year-old Moon, wearing a navy blue long-sleeved shirt, appeared calm and showed no emotion when the verdict was read.
Circuit Judge Karen Nakasone revoked his $1 million bail, and Moon is being held without bail until he is sentenced at 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 6.
Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bell asked the court to preserve its right to seek an extended-term sentencing for Moon as a multiple offender after he faces another pending case.
Both Moon and Feliciano were 20 years old the night of Christmas 2016.
Moon was free on $30,000 bail on charges of auto theft and possession of a firearm when the shooting occurred. On Dec. 5, 2016, he got into a vehicle and allegedly rammed a police vehicle and rock wall while trying to flee.
Outside the courtroom Tuesday, Feliciano’s mother cried tears of relief as she hugged family members.
She thanked the jury for knowing right from wrong, as well as the judges, the defense attorneys, the state and the media for being there.
He was the favorite of her six children because “he expressed his feelings…said, ‘Mom, I love you,’ and would come hug me,” Fiti Feliciano said.
Steve Feliciano’s sister, Carine Feliciano, 26, said her brother was a “mommy’s boy.”
“She has a hard time now. They would call each other for anything. They were so close. That’s her baby.”
The 2015 Moanalua High School graduate had played on the school’s football team and wanted to play football after high school.
But he also wanted to be an actor, had been in a “Got Milk” commercial and selected by the Disney Channel for an acting role, but his mother turned it down because they could not afford the $5,000 for home schooling, Carine Feliciano said.
His father, Ralph Feliciano, a fishing boat captain, was in San Diego recovering from open-heart surgery. He developed heart problems following the shooting, Carine Feliciano said. “He said he’s going to join his son.”
Fiti Feliciano admonished parents, “We got to make sure our kids are safe every day.”
She urged parents to empty out their children’s backpacks and check their cars. “That was my mistake,” she said.
Victor Bakke, attorney for Moon, said he thought the jury would have come back with a verdict of manslaughter because there was no intent to kill. He contended that Moon struck Feliciano with a loaded firearm but that the gun went off accidentally.
At about 7:30 p.m. Christmas Day 2016, Feliciano and some of his friends went to get marijuana from someone on the fifth floor of Ala Moana Center’s Ewa wing parking structure, police and a deputy prosecutor had said.
According to Bakke, that’s when Moon and his friends “rolled in and they didn’t know who these people were, and so they got spooked and started arguing with them, ‘Why are you here?’ That’s when the fight broke out.”
One of Moon’s friends allegedly started a fight with Feliciano, sparking others to take part in the brawl, police and a deputy prosecutor had said. Moon retrieved a firearm from his car and struck Feliciano with the gun before he fired a gunshot into the back of his head.
Carine Feliciano said she was not surprised at the verdict.
“I had no doubt,” she said. “You don’t get away with what you do. He was caught in his own lies.”
She said the family may have asked for a lesser sentence, but “there was no remorse coming from him.”
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