Opinion ID: 1163293
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Episode

Text: Three friends, Kwi Ha Lee (Kwi Ha), Jae Keun Lee (Jae Keun), and Kyon K.I. Min (Kyon), arrived at the Club Chateau, in downtown Honolulu, just after midnight on August 29, 1992. They were seated in a private room and were entertained by three hostesses. In the course of the soiree, a man pushed or kicked open the door to the room and, while uttering profanity, asked for Duk Paul, a name also used by Kwi Ha. Kwi Ha asked the man why he was looking for him. The man grasped Kwi Ha's hair and attempted to force him outside to the parking lot. When Kwi Ha resisted, the man fired a round from a handgun into the air to Kwi Ha's left side. At this point, the defendant Lee entered the room through the door. Kwi Ha testified at trial that Lee appeared to be intoxicated at the time and that Lee was yelling to that shooter [i.e., gunman] something. Kwi Ha testified that he could not decipher exactly what Lee had said, but that his friends had later told him what Lee had stated. Kwi Ha added, I thought he said kind of, you know, do something to me. . . . Well say kill him, something like that. [6] The gunman fired again, and this time the bullet struck Kwi Ha on the upper right portion of his forehead, an inch above his eye. Miraculously, Kwi Ha survived the point-blank shooting, although he lost his ability to smell. The gunman and Lee then fled the scene of the shooting. Lee was arrested approximately two hours later at another bar. Neither Kyon nor Jae Keun appeared at Lee's trial. Instead, their accounts regarding the material events occurring at the Club Chateau were read to the jury from transcripts of their testimony given at Lee's pre-liminary hearing. Kyon testified at the pre-liminary hearing that he had heard Lee say, Get out, but that Kyon did not know to whom Lee had directed the statement. Kyon testified that Lee then said, Let's kill him right here. Jae Keun also testified at the preliminary hearing that he had heard Lee say, [T]hen just kill him right here. Neither offered any explanation as to why Lee would have ordered Kwi Ha killed, although both were acquainted with Lee prior to the shooting. Against the express advice of his attorney, the gunman, who identified himself as Kim Hyun Shin (Hyun Shin), appeared at trial as a witness for Lee. Hyun Shin testified that, late in the evening of August 28, 1992, he coaxed Lee into accompanying him to pick up Hyun Shin's girlfriend, Diane, who was completing her shift as a hostess at the Club Chateau. Hyun Shin testified that he met with Diane outside the Club Chateau, but that Diane advised him that she could not yet leave because she was serving Tak Pal's table. Hyun Shin became upset and instructed a waiter to call Tak Pal. When Duk Paul ( i.e., Kwi Ha) did not materialize, Hyun Shin entered the Club Chateau very angry. Hyun Shin believed that, shortly thereafter, Lee began to follow him. Hyun Shin further testified that, upon locating the private room where Kwi Ha and his friends were drinking, he grasped Kwi Ha by the hair because he had repeatedly asked [Kwi Ha] to go outside and talk and [Kwi Ha] didn't act like a man and I  that upseted [sic] me. Hyun Shin claimed to have produced his handgun because he had felt threatened by the others and believed that they were about to grab ... the drink bottle. Hyun Shin admitted to shooting Kwi Ha, but maintained that he wanted to just scare [Kwi Ha,] so I aimed at his ear. Hyun Shin recalled observing Lee walk into the room after the shooting; he also believed that Lee had been in the room at the beginning of the episode, but may have left in the interim. Hyun Shin vehemently denied that Lee had had any instrumentality in the shooting. He further denied that Lee had made any statement about killing anyone. Lee also testified at trial in his own behalf and denied that he had ordered anyone to kill Kwi Ha or that he had even seen anyone in possession of a gun.