Surveillance videos at a Waikiki McDonald’s restaurant show a State Department special agent identifying himself as a law enforcement officer before he was attacked by the man he’s charged with murdering, the special agent’s lawyer said Tuesday in urging a state judge to make public the video and defense court documents.
Christopher Deedy’s attorney, Brook Hart, said the video is "compelling evidence" to support his client’s immunity from the state murder prosecution because he was acting as a federal law enforcement officer.
Hart’s remarks were in written arguments filed Tuesday opposing a request by city prosecutors to seal Hart’s dismissal motion and exhibits that include McDonald’s surveillance video recordings at the Kuhio Avenue restaurant of the early morning shooting Nov. 5.
Over objections by city Deputy Prosecutor Janice Futa, Circuit Judge Karen Ahn granted a request Tuesday by the Star-Advertiser and news organizations Hawaii News Now — the newspaper’s TV news partner — and the online news site Hawaii Reporter to oppose the prosecution’s sealing motion.
Ahn is scheduled to hear the prosecution’s request Thursday.
Deedy, 28, is charged with murdering Kollin Elderts, 23, who was shot in the chest at the McDonald’s restaurant. The special agent was here to provide security for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference.
City prosecutors contend that news coverage of the filings could taint potential jurors and hamper court proceedings. The proper time for the disclosure of the filings would be at trial, the office said.
In his opposition, Hart said the prosecution offered no justification for the sealing and did not cite court cases to support its request.
He said the exhibits contain facts to support the defense’s dismissal request because the pivotal issue is the federal law enforcement officer’s "reasonable belief" in the propriety of his actions.
The surveillance videos show from multiple angles what happened between his client and Elderts, Hart said.
After Deedy identified himself, the video shows "Elderts and Shane Mederios attacking Adam Gutowski and special agent Deedy," Hart said.
Gutowski was with Deedy at the restaurant, and Mederios has been described as Elderts’ companion in other defense court documents.
In their opposition to the sealing filed Tuesday, Jeffrey Portnoy and Elijah Yip argued on behalf of the three news organizations that judicial records are open to the public as a matter of constitutional law, common law and court rules.
The prosecution failed to justify why those filings should be kept confidential, they argued.
They also said it is Deedy who has a constitutional right to a fair trial, and he is not asking that the court filings be kept confidential.
The videos, the media lawyers said, provide "an objective rendering" of the events at the restaurant that "should reduce rather than add to any confusion that might have resulted from pretrial publicity in the case thus far."
