Punaluu murder suspect faces third trial

A 32-year-old man accused of second-degree murder is facing a third jury trial in the fatal shooting of an acquaintance at his Punaluu family compound, and is again asking the court’s permission to leave the jurisdiction as he did after the first trial.

Oahu Circuit Judge Kevin Souza declared a mistrial Aug. 25 in the murder trial of Ray T.K. Sheldon, almost exactly a year after the first hung jury occurred Aug. 26, 2022. Like the first jury, the second one could not reach a unanimous decision. Hanson Apo was shot and killed April 19, 2019. The third trial is set for Feb. 5, 2024.

The jury sent a communication to the court Aug. 25, saying it could not come to a unanimous decision.

Souza responded, saying they could take as much time as they felt necessary to reach a unanimous verdict.

“Would additional time to deliberate assist the jury in reaching a unanimous verdict?” he asked.

“No. More time would not help,” the foreperson responded.

The trial convened Aug. 15, 16, 17, 22 and 23.

Sheldon, a former drug dealer who admitted to shooting Apo, another drug dealer, in 2019, claimed he fired warning shots from a handgun into the air in self-defense, but police found a bullet had gone into Apo’s Dodge Durango.

Deputy Prosecutor Ayla Weiss told the jury in her Aug. 16 opening statement that Sheldon grabbed an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle and started shooting an unarmed Apo, who did not utter a word or physically harm Sheldon.

Weiss said Sheldon hid the body in a banana patch behind his house, and concealed another firearm used in the shooting inside his girlfriend’s car.

Sheldon’s court-appointed attorney, Harrison Kiehm, said the reason for the shooting goes back to a 2012 incident involving illicit drugs stolen by Apo from another person and years of threats against Sheldon.

Apo had just gotten out of prison and drove up Sheldon’s driveway late at night, then drove at him, crashed into his legs, causing him to stumble into a ditch and injuring his legs, Kiehm said.

He then retreated into his garage, grabbed the AR-15 and fired a few shots toward him, Kiehm said.

Meanwhile, Sheldon has asked the court’s permission to leave the jurisdiction to travel to Maui and Molokai, “to participate and contribute toward providing humanitarian aid to the victims of the Lahaina wildfires with Agape Christian Fellowship.”

Kiehm filed a motion Sept. 5 seeking permission for Sheldon to travel to Molokai to organize supplies and materials, then to Maui. That motion will be heard Oct. 2.

After last year’s trial, Souza allowed Sheldon to go to Las Vegas in September 2022 to watch his daughter play in a volleyball tournament, over objections by the state.

The judge’s 2022 order to travel waived his curfew condition while in Las Vegas and required him to stay in Las Vegas, except for travel to and from Oahu.

At that time, Sheldon claimed he had been doing good works as president of the nonprofit My Brother’s Keeper PJKK on Oahu’s West Side.

Sheldon has been out on $500,000 bail since June 20, 2019, after his bail amount had been reduced from $1 million.