A state jury found Corbit Ahn guilty Monday of murder in the brutal beating and strangulation of 18-year-old Iris Rodrigues-Kaikana.
The jury deliberated for just more than a full day before also finding Ahn, 32, guilty of third-degree sexual assault.
A woman picking flowers outside Kamehameha Homes found Rodrigues-Kaikana’s nude body in an alley separating the public housing complex and the adjacent Kalihi neighborhood on Aug. 24, 2009.
The jury will return to court in June to decide whether Ahn deserves to go to prison for the rest of his life without the opportunity for parole.
Rodrigues-Kaikana’s father, Steven Rodrigues, sat through the entire trial. He let out a sigh and whispered, "Thank you," when the court read the jury’s verdict.
"There was only one guy who could inflict the wounds that she had. There was no way any of the other witnesses could have done that because they were too small," he said after the court session.
Rodrigues-Kaikana’s body had 47 bruises, cuts or abrasions, including a cut to the lower lip that went all the way through, a chipped tooth and neck injuries.
Ahn is an amateur kickboxer who has also competed in mixed martial arts events and trained others.
His mother, Cynthia Ahn, also sat through the entire trial.She said outside the courtroom that she doesn’t believe her son killed Rodrigues-Kaikana and that Honolulu police missed evidence that would have proved somebody else did it.
"Because they didn’t do a thorough job, they did a botched-up job," she said.
Ahn’s lawyer, Donald Wilkerson, told the jury in closing arguments Friday that police did not search the entire housing unit where Rodrigues-Kaikana and Ahn were last seen the night before. And he said police did not search for blood in the residence or on the back lanai and did not test hair samples found at the lanai.
He said they did not test the DNA of blood found on Rodrigues-Kaikana’s crotch area, nor did they test for the presence of blood in the alley. And he said they did not identify who made a bite mark on Rodrigues-Kaikana’s neck.
Police said they found DNA that matched Ahn’s on Rodrigues-Kaikana’s neck, left breast, left wrist and sports bra.
Wilkerson told the jury that Ahn’s DNA was on Rodrigues-Kaikana’s body because they had a relationship. He also told the jury that a resident of the housing unit, a then-17-year-old boy on whom Rodrigues-Kaikana had had a crush, is the killer and that the boy’s then-19-year-old sister, Rodrigues-Kaikana’s best friend, helped cover up the crime, going so far as to remove their DNA but leaving Ahn’s.
Former Hono- lulu Medical Examiner Dr. Gayle Suzuki testified that the bruise on Rodrigues-Kaikana’s neck could have been made by a bite, but because it is round rather than egg-shaped and has a regular pattern around the edge, it is more consistent with being caused by a wristwatch or some other round object pressed against the neck.
