A Kawaihae man pleaded not guilty Friday morning to a second-degree murder charge.
A grand jury indicted Martin Frank Booth, 55, on the charge Monday. Police arrested him Thursday, although he was already in Department of Public Safety custody while he awaits trial on several other pending criminal cases.
Third Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Strance set Booth’s trial date on the charge for Oct. 28.
Booth did not speak during the arraignment, but did attempt to argue against a media request to photograph the hearing. He said if the Public Defender’s office had a conflict of interest and would not be able to represent him, as Strance and Deputy Public Defender Peter Bresciani noted during the hearing, then the media request should not be granted, because his real attorney was not notified.
Strance granted the media request.
The murder charge stems from the death of Kona musician Robert Keawe Lopaka Ryder, 37. Ryder’s family reported him missing Jan. 17. They had not heard from him since Thanksgiving, Hawaii Police said in a news release issued Thursday morning. An Area II police detective on Thursday declined to provide additional details about the allegations. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Sheri Lawson said she could not disclose additional information about the crime, including what kind of weapon was used or how Booth and Ryder knew each other.
Police located Ryder’s decomposing body in a lava field in South Kohala in March. He was found in an area between Puako Beach Drive and Queen Kaahumanu Highway.
Other media outlets said police in March reported being led to the body by a person who told them he had been coerced by another individual to “corner” Ryder, and that the alleged accomplice said he saw that individual shoot Ryder and that he assisted the alleged shooter in disposing of the body.
In a March autopsy, the medical examiner determined that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and that the manner of death was homicide, police said.
According to the grand jury indictment, Booth allegedly killed Ryder between Nov. 30 and Dec. 17.
Strance maintained a no-bail order for the case. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Sheri Lawson requested Booth be held without bail because it was possible Booth might flee the court’s jurisdiction and because of the “serious risk he would attempt to obstruct justice or intimidate witnesses.”
