A former Pahoa High School special education teacher accused of shooting a 32-year-old homeless man to death on the Hilo Bayfront in late 2012 has been found fit to stand trial.
A former Pahoa High School special education teacher accused of shooting a 32-year-old homeless man to death on the Hilo Bayfront in late 2012 has been found fit to stand trial.
Hilo Circuit Judge Glenn Hara on Thursday ordered 58-year-old Mark Anthony Whyne to stand trial for the Dec. 29, 2012, slaying of Faafetai Fiu on Bayfront Highway near Mooheau Park.
Hara set trial for Whyne, who’s charged with second-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and four other firearms offenses, on Jan. 19, 2016 at 10 a.m.
In December 2013, Hilo Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura found Whyne unfit to proceed and ordered him committed to Hawaii State Hospital in Kaneohe, Oahu.
Whyne, who also was homeless and living in his car when the shooting occurred, appeared for the second series of fitness hearings via teleconference from the mental hospital.
According to court records, Hara found Whyne’s refusal to participate in court-ordered mental examinations “is not a result of mental disease or disorder (and) appears to be volitional on his part.” The judge ruled Whyne has the capacity to understand the proceedings against him and assist in his own defense.
Court documents indicate Fiu was shot eight times, and ballistics tests matched a 9 mm handgun police found in a fanny pack on Whyne’s body when he was arrested Feb. 4, 2014, at Wailoa Small Boat Harbor in Hilo.
Court documents said a child of Fiu’s, who was asleep in the family’s van, woke up after hearing gunshots and might have witnessed the shooting.
If convicted on the murder charge, Whyne faces a mandatory life sentence with the possibility of parole.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.