KEALAKEKUA — The murder trial for two brothers has concluded its court proceedings and the jury has begun deliberations.
For the past several weeks, testimony has been given and evidence submitted to the 3rd Circuit Court in the case against Eber Miranda-Garcia and his brother Marlon, both of whom are charged with second-degree murder.
The brothers are accused of killing their landlord, Dolores “Lolo” Borja-Valle, whose body was found in a Captain Cook coffee field off Keopuka Mauka Road on Aug. 9, 2015.
On Friday, the prosecution and defense counsel delivered their closing arguments to the jury. Since the burden of proof lies with the state to prove the brothers are responsible for this crime, Deputy Prosecutor Sheri Lawson addressed the court first.
Lawson said the case boils down to the physical evidence, cooperation, corroboration and technology.
“You apply your reason and common sense and you’ll come to the conclusion that Eber and Marlon Miranda-Garcia killed Lolo,” she said.
Lawson said there are no smoke or mirrors in this case. She asked the jury to look at it all together to get a picture of what happened in the case.
Lawson drew the jury’s attention to Eber Miranda-Garcia’s confession in June of 2017 when he was initially arrested for the crime.
“If you look closely at the investigation, Eber’s confession lines up with the physical evidence,” she said.
Physical evidence being that Eber Miranda-Garcia lured Lolo out of his house on the reason there was a pig nearby, and struck him in the head several times with rocks.
Lawson added the injuries to Lolo’s head are corroborated by the medical examiner, who also provided testimony during the first week of trial.
“The CAST reports, that’s what brought this case together,” the prosecutor said, referring to the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Team and the collection of phone records at two phone towers during the time of Lolo’s death.
Testimony revealed Marlon Miranda-Garcia’s phone had connected to his brother’s phone several times at the tower in the vicinity where Lolo’s body was found and again where the decedent’s truck was abandoned in Ocean View.
Police have testified that the brothers gave them information during August of 2015 that they were home the night Lolo died. In June of 2017, Eber Miranda-Garcia first denied to detectives his and his family’s involvement. Through the course of the trial a video recording was played in court that shows the 28-year-old confessing to the murder.
According to the video, Eber Miranda-Garcia killed Lolo after the 69-year-old threatened to turn him in to immigration and take his wife and daughter away from him.
However, during the course of the trial, both men took the stand in their defense. Marlon Miranda-Garcia said he had gone to Las Martas but ended up picking up a hitchhiker and driving down past Hookena. Eber Miranda-Garcia stated he went to the Korner Pocket, an establishment in Kealakekua, where he played pool and drank throughout the night.
“If you use your common sense and reason, there was no hitchhiker. There was no Korner Pocket,” Lawson said. “There was an attempt to cover up the crime.”
Deputy Public Defender Wendy DeWeese, counsel for Marlon Miranda-Garcia, next addressed the jury with her closing arguments.
“It’s a carefully concocted illusion,” she said.
DeWeese said just because the government tells “you” something doesn’t make it so.
She told the jury that her client didn’t have to testify, but he did.
“He wanted you to know what he was doing that day and why,” DeWeese said.
DeWeese stated there is a presumption of innocence and the jury only needs one reason for doubt to find her client not guilty.
“There’s no physical evidence, there’s no murder weapon, we don’t even have a murder scene,” she said.
DeWeese added the government would like the jury to believe Marlon Miranda-Garcia participated in killing Lolo.
“They want you to believe this with Marlon not leaving any DNA,” she said.
In fact, DeWeese reminded the jury that experts during trial showed that her client’s DNA had not been found on Lolo’s body or in his abandoned truck.
“It defies logic, it defies common sense,” she said.
Marlon Miranda-Garcia, DeWeese continued, had no motive. There were no witnesses that saw him with Eber Miranda-Garcia the night Lolo died.
“Even the state has asked you not to speculate and yet they’re asking you to speculate,” she said.
DeWeese addressed the CAST records. “If the brothers are together disposing a body, why are they talking on the phone?”
She added that the police did a random tower dump on Verizon towers and didn’t check the other mobile carriers.
“In this country we don’t convict people on ‘maybes,’” DeWeese said. “Justice demands you find Marlon not guilty.”
Defense attorney Terri Fujioka-Lilley, counsel for Eber Miranda-Garcia, followed DeWeese in closing arguments. She drew the jury’s attention to the police investigation.
“Why wasn’t it important to check any other phones?” she questioned, reminding the jury that 45 additional phone numbers were also found active in the areas the night Lolo died and in Ocean View where his truck was abandoned.
Fujioka-Lilley also questioned why police couldn’t get out of their vehicles to further investigate coffee fields Lolo was known to work instead of driving around them.
The attorney again drew the jury to the question of why wasn’t it important for police to follow up on leads, that for two years went unfollowed.
“There’s confession that can’t excuse the failure of the investigation,” Fujioka-Lilley said. “That confession does not ring true.”
Fujioka-Lilley added Hawaii Police Detective David Matsushima directed the forensics lab to test the butt of a rifle after talking to Eber Miranda-Garcia and learning he had used it. The rifle was collected at the scene where Lolo’s body was found.
The rifle, she added, has no apparent relationship to the murder.
“Police weren’t out to solve a murder – they were out to convict those they had arrested,” Fujioka-Lilley stated. “If evidence proves anything, it proves the minimal, incompetent investigation on the part of the Hawaii Police Department.”
Because of that, the attorney said, it’s an injustice to Lolo’s family who don’t have closure and an injustice to the Miranda-Garcia family.
Since it’s the state’s obligation to prove guilt, Lawson had a chance for rebuttal.
The prosecutor said police didn’t make it to Lolo’s residence until Aug. 10, 2015. There was time to clean up.
The investigation led police to people closest to Lolo. Lawson said Eber and Marlon Miranda-Garcia had motive and opportunity.
Lawson suggested to the jury to work backward from Eber Miranda-Garcia’s confession and the evidence would line up.
“Reason and common sense,” she said. “Use it.”
Prior to closing arguments, Lawson did have an opportunity to cross-examine Eber Miranda-Garcia who took the stand Thursday in his defense.
She questioned him about whether or not he recalled what he told detectives during interviews with them in August of 2015 and again in June of 2017.
Eber Miranda-Garcia told the court it wasn’t until after reading police reports that he recalled going to Kona Imin Center, which helped him remember his evening at the Korner Pocket.
The jury will return to court on Monday at 9 a.m. to continue deliberating on the case.