Monday, March 21, 2016

Hilario Murder Conviction Vacated

The Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals has overturned the murder conviction of Vicente Hilario, who was sentenced to life without parole for gunning down Aureo Moore at Anahola Beach Park.

The ICA  — with Judge Lisa Ginoza dissenting — remanded the case back to the Fifth Circuit Court, which must dismiss charges against Hilario either with or without prejudice. If the former, then Hilario walks on Moore's death. If the latter, he must be re-tried on charges of first degree murder and bribing, intimidating and retaliating against witnesses.

The high-profile case began under then-Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri and her deputy, Jake Delaplane, and concluded with the guilty verdict early in the term of newly-elected Prosecutor Justin Kollar.

Evidence presented at the trial indicated Hilario killed Moore to prevent him from testifying against one of Hilario's friends after Moore was robbed of drugs at gunpoint in the Safeway parking lot.

It appears from the ICA decision that the errors occurred under Iseri. 

The ICA vacated the conviction because the former prosecutor attempted to prevent Jens Kiler Hansen-Loo from testifying, arguing that he was an alibi witness the state hadn't been notified of. That attempt failed, pushing back Hilario's trial date and preventing him from going to trial within the six months required by state law. 

Prosecutor Kollar said it is “highly likely” his office will ask the Hawaii Supreme Court to review the ICA ruling.

In any case, Hilario isn't likely to be free any time soon. He is currently serving a 10-year sentence on a separate weapons charge that Kollar's office successfully prosecuted, subsequent to the murder conviction.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shaylene was an arrogant thug who thought she was above the law.

I'm curious to know what has become of the murder case against Sandra Galas' estranged husband. It seems like his arrest was ham fisted at best, and was executed as a last ditch attempt to save her ill fated election chances.

Anonymous said...

How much more money will Shaylene cost the taxpayers! At least the perp will remain in jail thanks to Kollar.

Anonymous said...

Shay set this up!!!!! It was meant to FAIL from the beginning with the 2nd degree charges.

Who was the uncle of the murderer who worked for Shay????????


The FEDS have to get involved in this one and charge the murderers coconspirators. This is people in the Kauai judicial system.

I tried to tell you all that it was broken and fixed to let a murderer free.

POHAKU

Anonymous said...

It was publicity stunt. Courtesy of the orange paraphernalia.

Anonymous said...

Lots of people are ready know who he is and are just as guilty for not speaking up.

Anonymous said...

It was then Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho and now Justin Kollar's deputy John Murphy who was the one who filed the ill fated motion to preclude Hanson Loo from testifying. And it was former deputy prosecutor Melinda Mendes who convicted Hilario of the Murder and also convicted Hilario in a second trial of drug and gun charges which should keep Hilario in prison while this gets sorted out. Mendes left the prosecutor's office last year and now supports Lisa Arin for prosecutor.

So who will handle the murder trial now that there is no one left in the office who has prosecuted a murder trial?

Anonymous said...

It was Shaylene who argued that motion In court. And by the way Aron's never prosecuted a murder either. Kollar's first deputy seems to be doing just fine with the serious trial cases.

Anonymous said...

Lisa Arin will prosecute all evil doers, not just the easy ones.
The persecutor's office is very soft on what they will accept.
The cops are doing OK bring criminals to PA, but PA makes it very complicated.
If something does got to trial, criminals rely on quick pleas and soft sentencing.
We need a new prosecutor.
Don't worry about Justin, he can always get a job at a progressive funded group that believes that criminals are not responsible for their actions, society is. He could also go work for Hooser Campaign, Cat Lives Matter, or even the ACLU.
He is too sweet and nice to be a prosecutor, we need some real Huevos, in that office.
Mui Grande Huevos.

Joan Conrow said...

Says the person who is too chicken to even use his/her name on their comment.....

Anonymous said...

Kollar has one deputy capable of handling trials. Kollar and all his other deputies are not. Where are the press releases of all his not guilty verdicts. There were two more recently. Not guilty on attempted murder! Not guilty on violation of a restraining order! Rather than risk another not guilty verdict Kollar gave a murderer with a large criminal background a manslaughter deal. Now Kollar is continuing Galas until after the election.

Anonymous said...

i dont see Aron doing any press releases to brag about the losses, mistrials and reversals her own small handful of jury trials resulted in. Welch, Mundon, Westerman, Mcfadden and all the other messes she left for others to clean up after. The list goes on.

Anonymous said...

The opinion says the judge screwed up.

Anonymous said...

They all need to get what they deserve.

Anonymous said...

I see a pattern in the Hilario and Manuel murder cases. The female(s)who set up the murder(s) don't get charged.

How many other murders, solved or unsolved and set ups have the same pattern.