The murder trial of Patricia Wong opened Monday in Hilo Circuit Court with Deputy Prosecutor Matt Woodward telling jurors that the 61-year-old woman shot Kaycee Smith — the 21-year-old rodeo champion Wong called her hanai daughter — to death in 2009 to gain control of Smith’s sizable inheritance.
Wong’s attorney, Aaron Wills, countered in his opening argument the state has insufficient circumstantial evidence to convict his client and implied evidence it is using to try Wong for Smith’s murder is instead more strongly connected to Wong’s co-defendant, Peter Fuerte.
Wong reported to police on June 30, 2009, she found Smith dead in the rented Orchidland Drive home where Smith lived alone, and said she thought Smith had killed herself.
Originally indicted in 2016, Wong is charged with second-degree murder, two counts of solicitation of second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder and criminal conspiracy to commit second-degree murder.
Fuerte pleaded guilty in August to being a felon in possession of a firearm, a Class B felony punishable by 10 years imprisonment, and first-degree hindering prosecution, a Class C felony punishable by five years behind bars.
In return for the guilty plea, prosecutors dropped charges of accomplice to second-degree murder and accomplice to attempted second-degree murder, charges carrying a mandatory sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Fuerte, a 56-year-old Ocean View man, agreed to testify against Wong as part of his plea deal. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 9.
Woodward, who addressed the jury first, said Fuerte has been friends with Wong since childhood and conceded Fuerte is “a career criminal.”
“When you are looking to contract a murder, you do not go to the priest. You do not go to the local elementary school teacher. You go to people who operate in very, very dark places,” Woodward said.
Woodward told jurors that Fuerte is “going to tell you that Patricia Wong offered him money to kill Kaycee.”
“Now, Peter Fuerte declined, but he did conspire with Patricia Wong to provide some assistance … including purchasing a gun for Patricia.”
Woodward also told the jury Wong offered money to Smith’s former boyfriend, Frank Costa, to kill Smith.
“In 2007, Kaycee inherited $277,000 from a life insurance policy on the death of her father,” Woodward said. “In 2008, she developed a close friendship with a person named Patricia Wong. So close, in fact, Patricia Wong begins to refer to Kaycee as her hanai daughter. And so close, in fact, that in January 2009, Kaycee and Patricia Wong open up a credit union account, savings and checking, together. Now, Kaycee funds that account with about $91,000. Patricia adds about $3,500.”
“I should also mention that account is opened with what’s called a right of survivorship. If one account holder should die, the only person entitled to the money remaining in those accounts is the other holder.
“… How does Patricia Wong show her continuing love and appreciation for Kaycee, someone who had been struggling with a bad breakup, a 21-year-old woman trying to navigate the complexities of life on her own, and trying to figure out her place in the world? How does Patricia Wong show that appreciation? By offering money to people to murder Kaycee Smith.”
In the end, Woodward said, Wong herself “knowingly and intentionally murdered Kaycee Smith.”
Court documents filed by police say the crime scene was manipulated in an attempted to make the homicide appear to be a suicide.
Wills said that Wong is wrongfully accused and she was helping Smith to obtain “the home of her dreams” at the time Smith was fatally shot.
“The evidence will show that after repeatedly denying any involvement in the case, at all, the co-defendant, Peter Fuerte, bought and purchased the murder weapon that killed Miss Smith. Yet continually, he denies any involvement, at all, repeatedly, throughout this whole entire case,” Wills said. “The evidence will show that the co-defendant in this case, Peter Fuerte, he refused to testify in this case, until this year, 2023.
“Miss Smith was found deceased in her home in 2009. And Miss Wong was charged in this case in 2016. But at that time, the co-defendant, Peter Fuerte, was not charged … so he didn’t tell the truth. Didn’t need to.
“In the end, the state has zero direct evidence to convict Miss Wong of the crime of killing Miss Smith. All the state has is circumstantial evidence and inconsistent statements that do not amount to the level of reasonable doubt needed to render a guilty verdict in this case.”
Acting Deputy Police Chief Reed Mahuna, who was an East Hawaii Criminal Investigations Section detective in 2009, testified he responded to the scene — which was reported as a suicide by gunshot — with fellow detective Rio Amon-Wilkins, who is now the captain in charge of CIS.
Mahuna said he saw Smith’s body on a couch in the living room of the house with a blanket pulled up to her chin.
“I saw a pool of blood and a firearm on the ground. And I immediately noticed I couldn’t see the deceased’s hands,” Mahuna testified.
“And why was that?” asked Deputy Prosecutor Annaliese Wolf.
“They were tucked in underneath her body,” Mahuna replied.
“And what else was significant about her body?” Wolf inquired.
“I observed a gunshot wound to her head, and there was a large amount of blood coming from that,” Mahuna said.
Mahuna said the firearm was a Browning Hi-Power 9mm semiautomatic pistol manufactured in 1982. He added there were two additional live rounds — one in the handgun’s chamber and another in the magazine, as well as a spent bullet casing on the floor.
The trial continues at 9 a.m. today in the courtroom of Hilo Circuit Judge Henry Nakamoto.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.