The fate of a 32-year-old Hilo man accused of shooting two police officers early last year is in the hands of the jury.
Closing arguments were presented Wednesday in the trial of Keaka Martin, accused of two counts of attempted first-degree murder and numerous other charges in the nonfatal shootings of Hilo patrol officers Garrett Hatada and Joshua Gouveia on Jan. 2, 2013, in the parking lot of Pono Place on Kilauea Avenue.
If convicted of first-degree attempted murder, Martin would face a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Deputy Prosecutor Darien Nagata told jurors that Martin intended to kill the officers to avoid being arrested and jailed on an outstanding warrant.
Steve Strauss, Martin’s court-appointed attorney, told the jury that neither officer could identify Martin as the shooter, could not prove intent to kill beyond a reasonable doubt and could not rule out the possibility that Hatada had shot Gouveia when he returned fire.
Nagata described Gouveia as “a target of opportunity, a bull’s-eye for the defendant.”
“Defendant shot at Officer Joshua Gouveia not once, but twice,” she said. “The first one hit him in the hip. The second one missed. … Just because the defendant didn’t complete the job doesn’t mean he didn’t try.”
“(Hatada) heard three shots and immediately felt the pain,” Nagata said. “Why shoot at someone, an officer, who was trying to get away? He was trying to kill him.”
Police mounted a manhunt the following day. Martin was arrested at his sister’s East Palai Street home, but only after shooting himself in the chest with a 9 mm pistol.
“Jair ‘Bubba’ Trail (Martin’s nephew) said that the defendant crawled around in the living room and said, ‘The cops are here,’” Nagata said. “The defendant then hears the police (say), ‘Keaka Martin, this is the police. Come out.’ And then the defendant pulls out his weapon … pulls the trigger and falls to the ground.” Nagata said that Martin told Trail he’d “rather die than to go to jail.”
Strauss argued the case was about “identity, intent and fear,” and pointed out that neither officer could identify Martin from a photographic lineup. He also said Nagata mischaracterized Hatada’s testimony.
“In its closing statement, the state argued repeatedly — three times I think — that Officer Hatada was trying to run away when he was shot,” Strauss said. “Wasn’t his testimony that he stood up, trying to get a better firing angle, when he was shot? … And isn’t it true that Officer Hatada testified that he only retreated after he was shot?”
Strauss said that when Hatada returned fire, Gouveia was in the line of fire.
“Officer Gouveia couldn’t identify where the shot that hit him came from,” he said.
Strauss added that the state did not meet the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the shooter intended to kill the officers.
“After both officers were hit, they were completely exposed,” he said. “If the suspect had intended to kill police officers, he had multiple opportunities to do so. He had the cover of darkness, a still-loaded weapon and defenseless officers for a period of minutes.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.