Restaurant shooting defense lawyer fined

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HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaii judge fined a Virginia attorney $250 for statements he made during the trial of a federal agent charged with murder in a 2011 shooting inside a Waikiki McDonald’s restaurant.

HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaii judge fined a Virginia attorney $250 for statements he made during the trial of a federal agent charged with murder in a 2011 shooting inside a Waikiki McDonald’s restaurant.

Virginia lawyer Karl Blanke is one of the attorneys representing State Department Special Agent Christopher Deedy, whose trial ended with a deadlocked jury in August.

Free on $250,000 bail, Deedy returned home to Arlington, Va., and jury selection for a retrial is scheduled for June. He maintains he acted in self-defense and was protecting others from an aggressive man. He was in Honolulu to help with security for an international economic summit but was off-duty during the early morning encounter at the fast food eatery.

Circuit Judge Karen Ahn on Monday imposed the fine because Blanke mentioned Kollin Elderts, the man Deedy shot, resisted arrest in a prior case. Ahn said she thought Blanke knew he was prohibited from mentioning that detail to jurors.