The state appeals court overturned a murder conviction Thursday and ordered a new trial for a Hawaii island man accused of a shotgun slaying after finding his girlfriend having sex with a man.
A jury had found Malaki McBride guilty of murdering Tyrone Torres, 21, in a parked car in February 2007 at Nanawale Estates.
McBride was 17 at the time, and his girlfriend was 16.
The Family Court waived its jurisdiction over McBride to clear the way for his 2010 trial.
In its unanimous decision, a three-member panel of the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals ruled the trial judge gave an erroneous instruction to the jury.
The instruction dealt with the trial’s key issue of whether McBride was so emotionally or mentally distraught that he should be convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
The appeals court ruled that Circuit Judge Glenn Hara’s oral instruction to the panel was "wrong on the law" and "utterly confusing and misleading."
The correct instruction would have been that the panel must find McBride guilty of manslaughter if the jurors "unanimously" found that he proved the defense that he was extremely distraught, the appeals court said.
But Hara told the jurors they must return the manslaughter verdict if they were "unable to find" that McBride proved the defense, the court said.
In the trial, McBride admitted that he killed Torres, leaving the issue for the jury whether he should be convicted of murder or manslaughter.
According to the appeals court, the 16-year-old girl and Torres were having sex in a parked car on a dead-end road.
McBride drove to the car, opened a door on the passenger’s side, took a step back and fired one round from a sawed-off shotgun, the court said.
Torres was shot in the head.
McBride pleaded guilty to a firearm charge of using the shotgun to shoot Torres.
The appeals court ruling set aside the life term with parole for the murder conviction but upheld the maximum 20-year term for the firearm offense.
Manslaughter carries a maximum 20-year term.
