Man challenges conviction in Christmas Day shooting
HONOLULU — A man convicted in a deadly shooting outside a Honolulu shopping center on Christmas Day 2016 claims he should not have stood trial for murder.
The lawyer for 22-year-old Dae Han Moon requested a judge to nullify the verdicts and dismiss the charges because only one doctor declared 20-year-old Steve Feliciano brain dead before allowing his organs to be donated.
Under state law, a person on artificial life support is determined dead when an attending physician and consulting physician both sign statements declaring the death.
A jury found Moon guilty last month of second-degree murder and firearms charges in the shooting inside the parking garage of Ala Moana Center.
Feliciano, an organ donor, was shot in the head. He was kept on life support for two more days after a neurologist declared him brain dead three days following the shooting, said deputy prosecutor Scott Bell in a court filing in response to the defense’s motions. Doctors removed organs and tissue from Feliciano’s body on Dec. 30, 2016.
Moon’s lawyer Victor Bakke said that despite his requests, prosecutors never provided any signed physician statements indicating how many doctors were involved in declaring Feliciano brain dead until Bell’s filing.
The grand jury should not have indicted Moon on a murder charge because prosecutors didn’t provide the brain dead declaration, Bakke said. Moon was indicted Dec. 29, 2016.
The medical examiner determined that Feliciano’s cause of death was the gunshot wound to the head, Bell said. He did not die as a result of the removal of organs or life support, he said.
A court hearing on the matter is scheduled for Nov. 13.
Officials: Ancient village gone at site of new Marine base
HAGATNA, Guam — The remnants of an ancient village were removed at the site of a new U.S. Marine Corps base under construction on Guam, preservation officials said.
Guam Preservation Trust board member Dave Lotz said he visited the area Sunday and could not find the site or remnants of the ancient Chamoru village called Magua.
The trust, the U.S. Navy and the National Park Service announced a proposal in May to create a historic preservation program near the new Marine base, featuring artifacts and information about the site.
Because he had not been informed on the project’s status, Lotz said he decided to check on the site.
The military is dedicated to protecting cultural resources, and it has a qualified team that has collaborated with the Guam Preservation Trust, said Lt. Ian McConnaughey, Joint Region Marianas public affairs officer.
“Out of respect to the cultural significance of the displaced (artifacts), the Department of the Navy has recovered these artifacts and carefully placed them in a secure area pending a joint decision on their future interpretive use,” McConnaughey said.
Data collected at the site suggests it was not permanently inhabited, but the spot served to process forest products, McConnaughey said. The military has followed federal guidelines for protecting cultural resources, he said.
The site was likely the best remaining interior ancient Chamoru village on the island’s northern limestone plateau area, Lotz said.