Opinion ID: 2629770
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The attempted first degree murder cases

Text: On May 17, 1995, during Cordeiro's first trial in the Blaisdell case, John Iona, an inmate at the Maui Community Correctional Center (MCCC), where Cordeiro had been held after his arrest, told the MPD that Cordeiro had discussed the Blaisdell murder with him. Iona and Cordeiro had met during the summer of 1994, prior to their incarceration, through their involvement in the sale of crystal methamphetamine. Around the end of 1994 or beginning of 1995, while Iona and Cordeiro were both incarcerated in the MCCC, Cordeiro related to Iona details regarding Blaisdell's murder and the importance of Freitas's testimony to the prosecution. Cordeiro asked Iona, who was planning to escape from the MCCC, to kill Freitas if he was able get out; Cordeiro gave Iona three maps containing the information necessary to locate Freitas. Cordeiro advised Iona that he was going to inherit some money and would assist Iona in the event that Iona killed Freitas, although Cordeiro never specified exactly how he would assist Iona or whether he would pay Iona a certain sum of money. Iona lost interest in murdering Freitas, however, after learning from William Cornelio, another MCCC inmate, that Cordeiro had also asked Cornelio to murder Freitas. Moreover, Iona subsequently learned that Cordeiro had provided his cellmate with certain information, which Iona had shared with Cordeiro, regarding Iona's own criminal case; consequently, Iona no longer trusted Cordeiro. In October 1995, while Cordeiro was awaiting his second trial in the Blaisdell case, Cornelio contacted the police regarding Cordeiro's alleged attempt to hire him to kill Freitas. Cornelio claimed that Cordeiro had told him that Freitas was the only eyewitness against Cordeiro in his murder case. Cornelio further stated that, when Cordeiro heard that he was planning to escape with Iona, Cordeiro told Cornelio that he would pay him $5,000.00 in the event that he killed Freitas. The escape never took place, but Cornelio claimed that Cordeiro signed a contract stating that Cordeiro's grandmother would pay Cornelio $5,000.00 if he was able to get out of the MCCC by other means and kill Freitas prior to Cordeiro's second trial. In January 1998, a third MCCC inmate, Nedric Kapika, approached the prosecutor's office claiming that Cordeiro had attempted to hire him to murder Freitas. In contrast to Cornelio and Iona, Kapika's recollection of what Cordeiro had said regarding the Blaisdell murder was remarkably detailed and similar to the prosecution's theory of the case. According to Kapika, Cordeiro had recounted the details of Blaisdell's murder while they were working in the MCCC computer lab, and Kapika had inputted what Cordeiro had told him nearly verbatim into his computer. [9]