A 30-year-old Mountain View man accused of the fatal shooting Dec. 18 of a Puainako Town Center security guard as the victim sat in his car in the Hilo strip mall’s parking lot will get a court-appointed mental examination by three doctors.
Jarvis Rockwell Hung Leung Boots is charged with second-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of attempted second-degree murder and numerous firearm offenses after a string of what a prosecutor last month called “random acts of violence.”
The victim in the Puainako shooting is 41-year-old Benjamin Davidson, a father of three.
Some of the charges Boots faces are connected with a Dec. 2 incident in which a 24-year-old man, Anthony Moniz, was shot twice while salvaging parts from a “burnt shell of a car on the side of ” Old Mamalahoa Highway, according to police.
Moniz was taken to Hilo Medical Center in critical condition for his injuries, which included multiple gunshot wounds to the extremities and torso, a rupture of his iliac artery in his pelvis, nerve injuries, a pelvic bone fracture and other internal injuries.
Despite his injuries, Moniz on Dec. 18 identified Boots out of a lineup as the person who shot him, police said.
Another man, 50-year-old Juan Lopez, whom police said rode to the scene on a John Deere Gator utility vehicle after hearing gunshots, reported he was also shot at but uninjured.
Stanton Oshiro, Boots’ attorney, requested the mental examination for his client “based on an extensive history that the government is well aware of that Mr. Boots has been suffering from a series of mental illness, disease, defect or disorder caused by a number of issues, including an accident in which he received head injuries.”
Deputy Prosecutor Kimberly Angay didn’t object, and Hilo District Judge Harry Freitas granted Oshiro’s request.
Freitas ordered Boots to return to court at 1:30 p.m. March 9 and set a deadline of March 2 for the examiners to submit their reports to the court.
Boots has been in custody without bail at Hawaii Community Correctional Center, and prosecutors filed a motion to continue that status.
Freitas asked Angay to comment on why the state is asking for Boots to be detained without bail, saying he’s “always a little concerned about no bail.”
“He’s charged with 23 counts, of which five counts are either attempted murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree or attempted murder in the second degree. There are three victims in this case, Your Honor, in two separate (incidents),” Angay replied. “… In five of these counts, there is the possibility of life without the possibility of parole as a potential sentence … . He’s charged with 12 serious crimes. Several of them are firearm offenses.”
“Given the potential threat to the community here that the defendant may again not only engage in criminal activity, but potentially do something similar in the future, the community risk here is extremely serious,” she added.
Oshiro didn’t contest the state’s motion, and said the defense would “submit on the written motion as filed.” Asked by Freitas to comment further, Oshiro said he’s “constrained on comment(ing) on some of the arguments that were raised.”
“The allegations that he could commit other crimes, etc., are mere conjecture. He is presumed innocent until he pleads or is proven guilty. But, other than that, the factual allegations as far as what occurred and what he’s charged with, we don’t contest,” Oshiro said.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
