TEEN SHOOTING SUSPECT TO GET HEARING NEXT MONTH

The question of whether 17-year-old Miti Maugaotega Jr. will be tried as an
adult or a juvenile in the shooting of a Punchbowl man could mean the
difference between his serving less than two years in custody or possibly
the rest of his life behind bars if convicted.

Senior Family Court Judge Frances Wong yesterday scheduled a hearing for
Aug. 27 on whether Maugaotega will be treated as an adult in the attempted
murder of Eric Kawamoto at his Puowaina Drive home on Thursday.

If Maugaotega is treated as a minor and found to have committed the crime,
the longest he can be held under state law is until he reaches the age of
19. He turns 18 on Sept. 29.

But if he is tried as an adult, Maugaotega would face a life term with
parole if convicted of attempted murder.

Wong ordered Maugaotega held at Hale Ho'omalu, the Alder Street juvenile
detention facility, until the hearing.

Besides attempted murder, Maugaotega is charged with burglary, two firearms
offenses and two drug offenses.

Maugaotega is accused of burglarizing Kawamoto's residence and shooting the
43-year-old electrical engineer in the chest when he came home and
interrupted the burglary.

Doctors yesterday removed the bullet from Kawamoto, and he was discharged
from The Queen's Medical Center.

During yesterday's hearing before Judge Wong, Senior deputy prosecuting
attorney Jennifer Ching argued that Maugaotega is a threat to the community
because the seriousness of his alleged crimes has escalated.

In 1999, Ching said, Maugaotega broke into a store and stole a camera.
Three months later, at age 15, he stole a chain and money from a fellow
student.

Also, Maugaotega, who was ordered to return to American Samoa in 1999 by
the Family Court and forbidden from returning to Hawai'i until his 18th
birthday, violated that order by returning three months ago, Ching said.

Police have said that Maugaotega had crystal methamphetamine, or "ice," on
him when he was arrested in a stream near the Hawai'i Baptist Academy in
Nu'uanu within an hour of the shooting. Police also said Maugaotega told
them he had smoked marijuana just before entering the Puowaina Drive home.

His sister, Darlene Maugaotega, 19, said family members were shocked by the
shooting and reports he was found with ice. But she said she and her family
apologize to Kawamoto.

Police also are investigating Maugaotega's possible involvement in a June
23 break-in on Kanunu Street in which a 57-year-old woman was robbed and
pistol-whipped.

Maugaotega also is being investigated in connection with a June 16
home-invasion robbery on Waikahalulu Lane in which a gun was used, and
several burglaries in the Pawa'a area.

Advertiser staff writers Curtis Lum and Allison Schaefers contributed to
this report.