For the past three years since he allegedly shot and killed a 31-year-old acquaintance on his Punaluu property and dragged the body to a banana patch behind his house, Ray T.K. Sheldon has been out on bail, professing to be performing good works as president of the nonprofit My Brother’s Keeper PJKK.

During his murder trial this week in Oahu Circuit Court, Sheldon took the stand and explained in detail the events of that night of April 19, 2019, how he acted in self-defense to protect himself and his family against Hansen Apo, a man he feared for seven years and, unbeknownst to him, had just gotten out of prison and was high on methamphetamine.

After two days of deliberation, the trial ended Friday in a hung jury.

Sheldon, charged with second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, will again face trial Dec. 5, the date set by Judge Kevin Souza after jurors said they could not reach a verdict in the case.

During jury instructions Wednesday, Souza had given the jury the option of finding Sheldon guilty of a lesser offense, including manslaughter, varying levels of assault, down to second-degree reckless endangering.

Deputy Prosecutor Ayla Weiss, in her closing statement and rebuttal Wednesday, said Apo was not on trial and that despite his misdeeds, “he didn’t deserve to die.”

Weiss said use of deadly force was not justified under the law if Sheldon knew he could avoid injury by retreating into his home. Instead Sheldon “played judge, jury and executioner,” she said, adding he was in no danger and wasn’t scared of the victim but instead was sick of Apo and shot him to protect his own ego.

During his detailed account of the circumstances surrounding the shooting, Sheldon, who was 43 at the time, testified he was afraid of Apo ever since a 2012 incident in which he was “staring down the barrel of a gun” Apo pointed toward him when Sheldon failed to sell drugs Apo had left with him, instead returning them to the dealer from whom Apo had stolen the drugs.

So when Apo arrived on Sheldon’s property “out of nowhere” at 6:30 p.m. April 19, 2019, in a vehicle with dark, tinted windows, he said he feared Apo might shoot him. Although Apo offered the defendant condolences over the death of his mother, Sheldon said he didn’t think he was sincere and expected him to return, according to defense attorney Harrison Kiehm.

He said Sheldon was unaware Apo had recently been released from prison, and that Apo had made veiled threats by boasting about all the people he had beaten up in prison and that he had nothing to lose after beating his girlfriend.

After Apo left, Sheldon readied an AR-15 rifle in case he returned, setting an ammunition magazine next to the firearm inside his house. He also told his girlfriend she should leave the house for her safety.

When Apo returned at 10:30 p.m. in his Dodge Durango, Sheldon packed a .38-caliber handgun in his pocket and let Apo know he was armed. Sheldon testified he fired three warning shots into the air before Apo directed his vehicle’s high-beam headlights in his face, making it difficult for the defendant to see.

Sheldon testified that Apo then drove the Durango toward him, striking Shelton, sending him flying and injuring his ankle. He admitted to firing his AR-15 at the Durango using .223-caliber ammunition.

Kiehm told jurors Sheldon’s actions at that point were justified. But Weiss pointed out that Apo suffered multiple gunshot wounds — five in his left leg from a .45-caliber handgun and other gunshot wounds to his chest, shoulder and head, and that according to a criminologist, the muzzle was just inches from the victim when fired.

“The kill shot cannot be justified,” she said, since Apo was already down. “This was overkill.”

Sheldon said in cross- examination, “I never once stood over Hansen and shot him in the head.”

Kiehm said if the state’s allegations were true, “we’re talking up to four guns,” and “they’re trying to pin all of these firearms on Ray.”

He said two other people were in the Durango, and that police did not do a thorough investigation to determine if any shots had been fired from inside the vehicle.

“He had to defend himself from a ‘warrior’ (a term used by someone inside the Durango) who was “high on methamphetamine,” as indicated by Apo’s toxicology report, Kiehm said.

The defense attorney acknowledged in his closing arguments that Sheldon moved the victim’s body. “You might think, wow, that’s pretty cold,” Kiehm said. “He drags the body to the back and didn’t call an ambulance. We know Ray dragged the body because he was in a state of panic.”

Weiss reminded jurors that Sheldon changed his story at trial from what he told detectives, telling police that he fired just three warning shots. The .45-caliber handgun was found in the car.

She said he could have left the property or called police within the four hours after Apo’s first visit. Instead Sheldon was methodical and organized in covering up the evidence and hiding the victim’s body, and was not in a state of panic, and didn’t tell his girlfriend to leave until hours later.