This episode may contain content of a graphic nature, including descriptions of physical and
sexual violence against adults, children, and animals. Listener discretion is advised.
Hi everyone, I'm Talia and I'm Tanya, and together we are Crimes and
Consequences, a true crime podcast. Welcome back, everyone to another episode of
Crimes and Consequences. I'm Tanya and I'm Tealia, my lovely co host.
We are a couple of lawyers who enjoy discussing true crime cases in detail.
In detail, Yes, and often each other, right with all the awful
things that people do. Before I get into today's story, I would just
like to remind everyone hit the like button subscribe whatever app you're listening to,
If you could do that, that would be wonderful. And I'd like to
thank True Crime Daily for hosting us. Yes, and I have a horrible
story today. That's awful. Yeah. It takes place in hon Do I
want to hear it? Yes, takes place in Honolulu. And we just
had an episode a couple episodes ago about Lisa Ao. Yeah, and that
was in Honolulu. So I'm going to tell you this one today. Okay,
all right, you're ready, I'm ready, all right, before that,
if everybody could hit the subscribe like follow love yeah button whatever, that'd
be great. So on November second, nineteen ninety nine, a nine to
one to one call was placed into the Honolulu Police. The man calling told
the emergency dispatch that there was a guy that he was at the Xerox corporation
in Honolulu and there was a guy that came into the building with a gun.
Oh. The man on the line was out of breath and he told
them, you know, can you please get to this building in a surrey
like because some of the employees have been shot and he was convinced that some
of them were dead. The shooting took place just after eight am. And
at the time, and we kind of talked about this a little bit with
Lisa Ao, is that Hunlua police weren't really like heavily equipped to deal with
like these type of emergencies. And this sounds like a mass shooting. Yeah
yeah, And it sounds like a mass shooting. So you know, this
small police department is now called to deal with this active shooter. So nobody
who worked at Xerox at the time would ever suspect that forty year old Brian
Yasuji would ever be capable of killing seven of his coworkers in cold blood,
but he did it. He was considered to be introverted by everyone who worked
with him. You got to watch out for the quiet one, right,
and he has a puzzling history. So I'll tell you a little bit about
Brian Okay. He was born in Honolulu in nineteen fifty nine and he was
raised by his parents, who emigrated to Hawaii from Japan. The family settled
into a neighborhood in Honolulu, and all of Brian's neighbors spoke about how quiet
he was. According to them, he was a nice kid, but he
kept to himself. He was quiet. Anything that he put his mind to,
though, they said, he did extremely well, and he often helped
his elderly neighbors out with like anything they needed done around the yard around their
house. The woman who lived across the street from the family for thirty years
spoke about him and said that he made his own furniture by hand. Wow,
and the pieces were just again, I can't even get my kids to
do the dishes, and he made his own furniture by hand, right,
she said. You know, whenever she needed help, Brian would always come
over to lend a hand, and she recalled how he just never looked angry,
upset, like he just was like monotone right, right. So not
a lot is known about Brian's childhood or even his early adult years. I
mean I told you pretty much what I know. He has a brother named
Dennis, and Dennis was a major asset to the police when this came down.
Brian attended Roosevelt High School and he participated in some extracurricular activities such as
the high school's junior rotc program. Okay, okay. He was also a
member of the riflery team and this rifle. Yeah, he had a team.
Yeah, and this was probably what would eventually spark his abassion. No,
I don't think they do it either. I mean that's probably to school,
yeah, and it would probably eventually spark his interest in firearms. Yes,
those are When to school with Brian, talked about him kindly like he
wasn't like the weird kid. They just said he was introverted, quiet,
he stayed to himself. I mean, it was basically like the same things
that the neighbors would say. He stayed out of trouble. Not long after,
Brian went to high school. Not long after he graduated from high school,
that was in nineteen seventy seven, he got into a really bad car
accident one night from he was coming home from a graduation party. He was
driving his dad's car and he crashed it on impact. He hit his head
against the windshield. Really bad head injury. Yeah, And according to his
brother dunnis like, Brian was never the same same after that. On a
lot of stories where after head injuries they're never the same. Right around nineteen
eighty four, Brian got a job working at Xerox as a copier technician.
Like he would fix the machines. Along with working full time, Brian also
had a hobby where he raised fish and he breeded coyfish and goldfish. Oh
and once the fish got old enough, he would sell them to local pet
store. The koyfish alone could get somewhere between ten dollars and twenty thousand dollars.
I guess depending size rayfish. You know, it depends on their size,
colored gender, you know, their genetics, their body shape. I
had no idea this was a whole thing. We got to start that.
I know, we need a coy pond to start with. A few years
Prior to employment at Xerox, he started collecting guns, and at the time
of the shootings in nineteen ninety nine, he had twenty five guns registered under
his name. Well. According to Brian's father, his son was never the
same once he started working for Xerox, but things seemed to get worse for
Brian after his mother passed away in nineteen eighty eight. After his mother's death,
Brian began complaining about a weird poking sensation in his head, which got
worse when he was instructed to transfer to a different work group at Xerox.
That's weird, I know, I wonderful it has to do with that accident.
I wonder I know, I don't know. I don't know if he
ever got it checked out either. Once in the new work group, Brian
started to get a bit paranoid, and he began making harassment claims, like
against his coworkers that seemed to be unfounded. He made complaints about fellow repairmen
messing with, messing and tampering with his equipment, you know, the stuff
that he was told to repair. And he would say like, well,
they were messing with it, and they like sabotage, but they did or
something right. Anytime he felt that someone was messing with him at work,
he would get infuriated. And he was not the type of person really that
dealt with anger in a proper way. There was you know, he really
didn't compartmentalize, like he just wouldn't let it go. And they he seemed
to have serious anger issues, like it seemed to be developing. I wonder
if that's front alone. Yeah, you're right, because I think that's a
sign, isn't it. Yeah. He would often make death threats to the
people he felt harmed him. Okay, I mean I would think that would
be grounds for firing. Yeah, maybe together, start making death threats,
right, I mean fire you, I mean personally. I used to work
in a large corporation, like before I became an attorney, and one of
the people that I supervised got angry one day and he basically said something like
he was going to go postal. Oh yeah, and a coworker mentioned it
to HR and he got fired. I mean, I don't think he meant
it. He was just frustrated, but he got fired for just saying it.
Postl is a term that was used because of what happened in Royal Oak
Michigan where not far from where we live. And the post the postman yea,
yeah, postman shot everybody and that's yeah at the at the post office,
and that's where the term going postal. Yeah, I mean my dad
was the guy that declared him dead. Really wow, small world, I
didn't know that story. You don't know that. I didn't. Yeah,
he's on the dust certificate. Huh. Wow, I didn't know that.
So, yeah, that's where going postal came from. So former employees at
Xerox reported that members of Brian's work group often excluded and shunned Brian, and
this made him feel left out and completely excluded from his work group. So
I don't know if these are the same people he's making because I'm always I'm
not going to hang out with you. If you're then yeah, and then
you're going to HR or whoever saying that I'm like sabotaging you, and then
you want to come to my party. Yeah, like exactly. He was
never welcome into their social circle circles and this was the main reason I think
that he felt the need to make these threats. Then like he's going and
telling you know, HR or whoever. At the time that these things are
happening, making these complaints, and then you know they're excluding him because of
the complaints, and then he's saying, you know, he's going to kill
you, kill you. So I mean, I can kind of it's a
vicious cycle. I can kind of fuel on a fire. Yeah, but
you know, nobody ever, and nobody at Xerox ever really thought that Brian
would do it right right, would do it. In nineteen ninety three,
Brian was ordered to go through a psychiatric evaluation along with anchor management training.
This order came through this corporation after Brian got arrested for damaging an elevator door
within the company. He got really pissed one day and literally kicked in the
elevator door. Wow. Yeah, he was charged with third degree criminal property
damage and he didn't get fired. Still didn't get fired. Well, damn,
must be part of a union, I know. That's what I was
thinking. I'm like, is this unionized or what. According to other fellow
employees, Brian openly brand about the fact that he was going to come and
shoot up the place if he were to ever be fired from Xerox. So
I don't know if this is a deciding factor, I doubt keep somebody,
you know, there's because I'm afraid if I fire him, they're going to
shoot everybody I know, Like this is crazy. After his psychiatric evaluation,
the psychiatrist diagnosed Brian with paranoia along with delusional disorder. And there's four types
of delusions if you didn't know, there's I did not grandiose, jealousy,
jealousy, delusion, aeromatic, air, toumatic, and persecor per per persecutory
I'm sorry, yes, perscatory right, yes, and that being persecuted.
Yes, that you're being persecuted. And that's the one that the psychiatrist said
that he suffered from. So he felt like he's being persecuted. Yes,
he felt like he was being persecuted, and he was paranoid on top of
it. Even with these diagnoses, Brian was not considered to be dangerous though.
Okay, he told the doctor he was experiencing hearing voices in his head
and some hallucinations. According to Brian, a black shadow was constantly following him,
and in nineteen ninety three he told his brother Dunnis that the shadow had
actually become quite physical with him. That sounds like a paranoid that sounds like
paranoid schizophrenia, right, I know, and the shadow pinned him down where
he was unable to get back up. Brian also noted that there was a
conspiracy against him and that the house was bugged like that was at home.
He thought people were listening in on his conversations and actions around his home.
You have a great aunt that has that, really, and they always family's
always told her, nobody thinks that you're that interesting. They are not bugging
yours, bugging house. They're going to be bored as hell, right,
she just doesn't get it. Sure, they care so much about her.
Yes, she's you know, she just cleans houses, right, like she
got for the FBI or whatever. Yeah, it's not like she's you know,
laundry or whatever. Oh man. He also felt strongly that and he
was adamant that his coworkers were harassing him and they were backstabbers spreading rumors about
him. In nineteen ninety seven, a couple of years before the shooting happened,
Brian's family took him to visit a priest in the hopes of potentially helping
Brian with his issues, evenor not like an exorcism, but like maybe someone
to talk to. Even like even the pre sense that Brian had some mental
issues and his dad was the one eventually urged him to like seek out mental
health help, but Brian refused to get any treatment. In the months leading
up to the murders, the management team at Xerox had been trying to phase
out old technology while phasing in like brand new copiers. You know, they're
getting rid of the old and they're updating their technology. Brian had gotten used
to servicing the same equipment every day, you know, day in and day
out, and he avoided and refused to learn how to fix the new machines
that Xerox was bringing in. He was afraid he wouldn't be able to keep
up with the potential demands that came along with the new machinery. And eventually
Brian's manager just became fed up with this behavior. And you know, Brian
news you adapt. Yeah, And because up to this point the manager had
been working around Brian's negative responses to the new copier. And when the manager
told him, Okay, you're going to start learning, he was going to
start learning the following day, Like when you come into work tomorrow, we're
going to start this training and that the next day happened to be November two,
when the shootings happened. Brian would later tell the forensic psychiatrist that he
was assigned from his trial that he was trying to get Xerox to refuse,
not trying to get Zerox to fire him for refusing to take this training.
Has he not learned Xerox not fire on him? I know he did all
kicking the elevators, threatened us killing the coworkers, you know. Yeah.
The morning of the shooting, shortly after eight o'clock in the morning on November
second, Brian walked into the Xerox corporation, where he'd been employed for fifteen
years. He greeted a fellow co worker as he walked into the building,
you know, just like it was every other workday. After the pleasantries were
through, he took his loaded nine millimeter glock handgun with him up to the
second floor of the building, along with multiple rounds of ammunition. So I
don't know if like he had extra clips, but he had a lot of
ammunition. If you don't know about a glock, the glock is a semi
automatic pistol and you can load it with hollow point bullets what that means.
And a hollow point bullet they do a lot more damage than a standard bullet.
It was he and this is what he loaded his gun with. He
knew the bullets. What happens is like upon impact, they expand. Oh,
they expand, and they caused so much more damage. Yeah. And
when yeah, when they expand, the core of it just rips the jacket
that's holding it in. So it leads to like a much much bigger damage,
you know, much a wound. Yes, the wounds are larger,
you know, the damage inside is larger, and you know, I mean
it's ripping through soft tissue. Because I was saying in a nine millimeter isn't
that big? No, right, it's not that big. But no,
he loaded his gun with hollow point bullets, so you didn't need like big
ammunition because it it became bigger with these bullets. At the time that he
came into the building, there were only eleven people in the building, thank
god, and over half of them, though, would be gunned down.
The first room he went into was the computer room, which had three employees
inside. There was Randal Shin, Ronald Kawamme, and Jason Balatico. Brian
shot and killed both Ronald and Jason, but he spared Randall. He then
made his way down to a conference room. Well did he spare Randall?
I don't know. Maybe he didn't have a beef with Randal, That's what
I'm thinking. Imagine you're Randall, like you just see like two of your
coworkers get shot. So there's a conference room close by, and he walked
into it because he knew there was like a staff meeting of his team at
that time, and he walked into murder all five coworkers that were in that
room. Did he Yeah, he did. They all died. They all
died, all five. The five were Ford, Conna, Hira, Melvin
Lee, Ronald Kawa, Oka Oka, Peter Mark, and John Sakamoto.
And like I said, all five died as soon as they were shot.
Brian was shooting to kill like he just wasn't looking to just wound somebody.
He was a really good shot. According to some reports, Brian allegedly walked
into the room while the team meeting was taking place, and before shooting and
killing everyone, he waved at them to say goodbye, like bye, and
then he shot them all. Brian was more than happy to murder his supervisor,
which was Melvin Lee. After killing now seven people, he saw another
potential victim, which was fifty five year old Stephen Mitsuda, but luckily Brian
missed after shooting at him multiple times and Steve was running down the stairway.
Yeah. After getting pissed about not being able to kill this eighth victim,
Brian fled the scene and he hopped into a company van. I did the
keys. Who knows, right, Okay, I don't know if it's something
that he always had access to, because I mean he was a copy or
technician. Maybe he went out on jobs, right, right, Okay,
Thankfully Steve survived, didn't get shot, and he was actually the one that
made that nine one one call. Yeah, And if you listen to the
nine one one call, you can hear like he's out of breath. I
mean he just got done running for his life. He's panicked. Yeah.
Brian drove out of the parking lot and police and patrol cars pulled in shortly
after. On the phone with dispatch, Stephen can barely get out the words
he said, quote one of the guys came into our Xerox building with a
gun and after he gives the address of the corporation, he said, quote,
you got to get there right away. And then he's waiting for the
operator to reply, and he's breathing heavily because I'm sure as adrenaline is in
high gear. Yeah. The operator then asked him if anyone was injured,
to which he responded back, quote, some of the guys did get shot.
Some of the guys are down, they're dead unquote. I mean horrible.
The police got to the scene and they put out a bolo which is
beyond the lookout for a Xerox fan and after Brian I think it was green
at the time too, And there's there's a picture of it. Not like
it's a white Ford tourist, right, No, it probably sticks out like
a sore thumb. Brian was on the run for about an hour and forty
five minutes, but then a jogger who'd been exercising inside this one neighborhood spotted
the van and they called the police. The police arrived shortly and blocked off
a radius around the van that was about a half a mile wide. Oh
yeah, and there is a picture of it that we're showing. Once the
police in Swat team got set up there now was a standoff hours later.
This is when the police recruited Brian's brother Dennis. Oh yeah, you said
he was going to play a part. Yeah, And Dennis ended up talking
to Brian and talking him into surrendering. So thankfully he was able to get
Brian to come out of the van without any further you know, shooting and
bloodshed. And he goes into police custody. I kill my siblings. Oh
I know what am I doing here? Yeah? What am I doing here?
Why are you acting all crazy? Like? What did you just tell
ya? Stand down? Come on, come on, just come out right
like it's not going to end well for anybody, right, I'm gonna stand
out right. So I'm gonna tell you a little bit about the victims.
Okay, okay. The first victim I'll tell you about is Ford Kinnahira.
He was forty one at the time and he was shot five times. Those
who knew him said he was fun. He was really kind of childish and
boy like, had that like light attitude, and when the time came for
the media coverage about the murders, his family and friends had a difficult time
finding any recent photos of him. Because he was always the man behind the
camera. Oh, he was the one always taking pictures, although he'd worked
for Xerox for nineteen years. He was also a devoted family man. He
loved the life he had with his wife and five year old son Bryce.
He attended high school at Castle High School, and he went on to further
his education at the Electronics Institute of Hawaii. He was married to the love
of his life for eighteen years, and his wife was his high school sweetheart.
Okay, this is make amazing, I know. And he was seventeen
when they met and she was fourteen. Oh, and they dated for five
years before they got married. Isn't it cute? That's so cute. It
was adorable. They were just best friends, soulmates, inseparable. And you
don't making me so sad? Yeah, I mean, these poor people.
And then their son came long and they fell in love all over again,
right with their son. When Bryce was born. Both Ford and his wife
treasured their son and they were like the Three Musketeers. They always did stuff
together. His funeral was light and uplifting, and roughly eight hundred people came
wow to pay their respects. The next victim, I'm going to tell you
about is Peter Mark. He was forty six at the time of his murder,
and he was shot twice. He loved the ocean, and his family
scattered his ashes at his favorite spot, which was Manu Lua Mana Lula Mana
Na Lua Paana Lula Beach Park. He will forever be remembered as a fantastic
father who loved his kids as well as a great person who never had anything
bad to say about anyone. And you're not going to say that about me
when I die, because I taught shit all the time. Yeah, and
you got a sure that says I hate me, Yeah, exactly. I
mean I wasn't as nice as Peter was. He dedicated his life to guiding
his children the best he could, and they were the lights of his life.
He would always race home after work just so that he could see and
spend time with them. He was raised by his uncle Ronald, and grew
up while living in Ronald's home. He was one of six children there.
He attended high school at Kaimuki High School and went on to study at the
Electronics Institute of Hawaii. He always doing his working at zero, Yeah,
always doing his work at Xerox, He's going to work for his family and
dies. He and his wife, Karen were married for sixteen years and they
had two sons. One of his favorite pastimes was surfing. Member I told
you loved the ocean, but that took a back seat when his sons came
along. On that fateful day, Karen found out that her husband was killed
by another technician's wife who she was friends with, who just happened to be
at the cafe across the street from Xerox that day. John Sakamoto was thirty
six at the time Brian killed him, and he was shot four times.
He was the son of Richard and Charlotte, and he had two siblings,
a brother and sister. He attended Kalani High School and later studied at the
Electronics Institute of Hawaii. It seems to be the place to place to go.
He was married to his wife, Susan, and they shared a son
and daughter together. He was with Xyrex for ten years, and he was
also an avid fisherman before he began working for Xerox. He helped build his
own fishing boat and he worked endlessly every Saturday and Sunday to get it done.
Whatever whenever he took any type of vacation, he spent at fishing like
NonStop. His funeral service was held at a church and everyone who attended was
told to wear aloha attire. Yeah. Ronald kawah May was fifty four at
the time he was murdered, and he was shot once directly in the head.
Ah. He was a father as well as a grandfather. His son,
Reid, had a son of his own, and after Ronald's grandson was
born, he became much closer to his son. Reed. Co workers of
Ronald loved and respected him, and many saided he was always so kind and
quick to help anyone who had less experience. He attended Kaimuki High School and
he was with Xerox for thirty years. That's a really long time. Yeah.
He had a nickname the Politician, and he absolutely loved to do karaoke.
Ah. I know, king not sure if everybody else loves it karaoke,
but I know right. Socializing was one of his favorite things to do
because he just loved people. Christopher Jason Balatico he went by Jason. He
was only thirty three when he was killed, and he was shot five times.
He attended high school at Farrington High School and he furthered his education at
Harold's Institute of Technology. He was the son of Lawrence and Evelyn, and
he had a brother named Robert and his sister named Denise. He was married
for ten years to his wife Mary, and they had a son and daughter.
He loved baseball and he played on his high school's baseball team. The
weekend of his murder, he was planning on attending his high school reunion.
Everyone knew him. Everyone that knew him knew him as a jokester and a
prankster. He loved making the people around him laugh, but he was never
malicious, like I always hate April Fools for that reason. Like sometimes people
are just oh I love that, Oh I hate it. So many times
I told him I was going to have baby. That's terrible. You guys
are going to have a little brother's fortunes. They probably lost their mind,
gidding getting Anyone who came across Jason just adored him, and he was known
to have touched so many lives with his personality. Fifteen hundred people were in
attendance at his funeral service, and November second, nineteen ninety nine, marked
his eighth anniversary with deer Ox in a room full of people. He was
always the first to smile and his favorite prank was to suit glew a penny
to the floor and when you know, pick up that penny for goodness.
Yeah, they would never be able to Ronald Ronnie cut A cut a kataoka.
I'm sorry, I messed it up. Was fifty when he was murdered,
and he was shot four times as well. He went to Laila Who
High School and he furthered his electronics education at Honolulu Community College. While in
high school, Ronald met the love of his life. At the time of
his murder, they had been married for twenty five years. They had a
daughter, Lynn, and Ronald's wife also worked at Xerox. Oh shit,
and Ronald had been with Xerox for twenty seven years. He also served in
the Vietnam War when the National Guard called on him to serve, and as
part of the National Guard, Ronald manned a grenade launcher. Oh during the
war, I'm surprised there weren't more people at Xerox. I know at the
time, it's only eight in the morning, though, yeah, is that
one people normally know? It's usually like eight thirty at US. Yeah,
at US, No, usually eight thirty, sometimes nine, depending on where
you work. But I remember when I worked for that corporation for a really
long time, it was eight thirty. I gotta be there. I wonder
why he didn't wait to get more. I know, I think he just
wanted to kill his team. No, I don't think you real ate a
beef with anybody else there. I don't know I'm projecting, but I think
that's probably what happened. The final victim was Brian's supervisor, Melvin Lee.
He was fifty eight when he was murdered, and he was also shot four
times. He was a family man who had many different hobbies such as being
a great cook, karate, golfing, fishing with his three kids, and
camping. He attended Waypao High School and he went on to study at the
Electronics Institute of Why. He was married for eighteen years, and he left
behind who and he left his wife behind along with their two daughters. About
a thousand people gathered to remember Melvin at his funeral service, and he was
truly loved by everyone who knew him, and this went even for the employees
who worked under him at Xerox. A coworker named Marilyn Lee, she wasn't
related to Melvin, wrote a letter to him, and she read it as
part of the eulogy at his funeral service. In the letter, she wrote
about how she could literally spend all day talking about Melvin, but regardless,
nobody would ever realize how truly special he was and how loved he was by
those he worked with at Xerox. So I just wanted to kind of pay
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that made me touch me right. But what's
more, I know it's it like a human spin on the victims. More,
according to witnesses at the scene of the shooting, not only did Brian
wave goodbye, I remember I told you that. Yeah, that's so to
his victims, he was also seen smiling during the murders. And I'm not
sure who saw him, but somebody did. Like I told you, there
was eleven people in the building and he killed seven of them. He was
seen as cool, calm and collected as he left and walked to that green
Xerox fan leave the scene like he wasn't in a panic to like running out
of there. File calculated, yeah, very calculated. Following the arrest,
law enforcement obtained a search warrant to search his house, and during their search
they discovered seventeen guns, some of them weren't even registered. It was also
discovered that Brian tried to purchase another gun in nineteen ninety three, but his
permit was turned down since he'd been arrested for that destruction of property. Remember
the elevator, Yeah, the elevator and making death threats towards Melvin. That's
who he was stressing to kill. Melvin. Yeah. Brian was charged with
first three murder, and this category holds a lot of weight and covers multiple
murders in Hawaii. Like the way there, the way their laws work,
you know, like if you killed two people, they'd be here in Michigan
to be two counts a first degree murder, but a blanket. Yeah,
there's a way to roll all of the different counts into one charge of first
degree murder. His trial began May fifteenth, two thousand, and it went
on for a month while waiting for his preliminary hearing. He was held on
seven million dollars bond for that one count of first degree murder and seven counts
of second degree murder. Why do you even go to trial? It's obvious
he did well. He said he was innocent by reason of insanity. Yes,
he pleaded insanity. The first degree charge in Howaii carries a mandatory life
sentence like it does here in Michigan, without any possibility of a parole if
convicted, and there is no death penalty in the state of Hawaii, so
that's the maximum penalty you could get. During opening statements in the trial,
the prosecution spoke about the victims, their family, their work at Xerox,
and their lives. Six wives were called to stand to testify for the prosecution,
and one son of the seventh victim was also called. The first person
called the stand was Melvin's wife, and she spoke about their children, his
love of golfing, and all of the witnesses spoke about like their husband's hobbies
into victim impact statement, Yeah, like that during their testimony. I mean,
this is during their testimony, and each witness was cross examined. Of
course, Brian was certain, Like it came out during the trial that Brian
was certain one of his coworkers, like one of the victims, was moonlighting
as an agent for the FBI, and the wife of that victim was asked
you know, has your husband ever worked for the FBI, and you know,
of course she said no, yeah, that would be the CIA.
I would mait right, that's true. The rest of the witnesses, they
were basically asked if Brian ever discussed with them outside of Xerox or if the
victim's family members were made aware of any ongoing ish es with Brian. After
the trial concluded, the jury deliberated and came back with a guilty verdict.
I wonder how long they deliberated. I know, I'm not sure. One
of the members of the jury spoke out and said that Brian seemed like a
quiet guy who spoke calmly and without any expression on his face whatsoever. And
as the trial went on, it became very evident that Brian did know right
from wrong. Yes, And that's the elements of deciding whether someone is,
you know, not guilty by reason of insanity, and that's the very hard
standard, very high bar, yeah, very high. And that juror said
that he knew about the Bible and the ten commandments, and that was the
censure, like for him to know, like, you know, you know
the difference between right and wrong. Right. Brian was sentenced to serve a
minimum of two hundred and thirty five years, and it was the longest sentence
given to an inmate in the state of Hawaii. And this crime was actually
the worst mass shooting in Hawaii in their state history, and it still is.
It was reported that Brian had been thinking about killing the victims for years.
I mean, I told you he made these threats, right, and
for so long none of his potential victims. Yeah, and they were never
in the same room. However, like I told you, Brian knew this.
On November two, they were all going to be having this meeting.
Yeah. That so finally they'd be in the same room. Which I'm surprised
it took so long to have a staff meeting because when I right, when
I worked in like corporate America, we were always having staff meeting every morning.
Yes, every morning. Oh my god, what's going to happen?
An they're damn meeting right, Like, oh my god. That's one thing
I love about having being a lawyer. There's never any staff meetings. We
call it lunch exactly. Yeah, So you know, he knows they're going
to be in this room, so they're just like sitting ducks for him.
Throughout the trials duration, Brian's family believed that he wasn't a violent man.
In their minds, all Brian wanted to do was raise and breed his fish.
Well, but don you know, and Dennis did testify during the trial
about the car accident and how Brian was never the same. Afterward, Brian
tried to appeal his conviction on the terms that his rights had been violated when
the court did not truly define the two terms wrongfulness and appreciate because that's probably
in the state law right when you have the definition of not guilty by reason
of insanity. He thought that, you know, it was violated. So
his too vague, Yeah, too vague. I guess it wasn't defined clearly.
You know, it violated his right to a fair trial. And in
the appeal it was determined that his rights were not violated, nor were they
affected in any way as as attorneys were looking for something, I know,
just something figured something out here, I know. I mean we've been there,
yeah, absolutely I have. Yeah, we've polished a turn a few
times. Yeah. That's my favorite expression for when it's like our job,
especially when you have a bad case, you're just like, oh, what
can I find right. So Brian's conviction remained and was supported by the Supreme
Court in Hawaii in two thousand and two. Two years later, Brian did
consider contesting the conviction again by stating he had insufficient representation. But that didn't
go. No, that didn't rather, Yeah, I read that that works.
In two thousand and five, Xerox in the hospital responsible for Brian's initial
mental examination, settled a suit that was brought on bed the families of the
seven victims. The families felt that both Xerox in the hospital completely ignored Brian's
mental instability, which they did keep him employed. I kind of see that.
Yeah, after death threats and kicking in the door, I mean you
would think emil later Yeah, yeah, ticking in the elevator door, like
you would think that would be grounds for dismissal. I don't know, someone
dropped the ball in that one. Brian is currently in his sixties and he's
serving a sentence at Cigaro Correctional Center in Arizona. After the shooting, the
Xerox building on North Nimitz Highway was vacated and the building was left completely empty
until this little tidbit. Remember the television series Lost that was on probably like
twenty years ago. The producers built a massive sound stage there in that building
so that they were able to fill the indoor scenes. Isn't it crazy?
Probably was cheap. Probably was cheap, cheap and beautiful Hawaii and right right,
I mean it's about the mass shooting, right, is it crazy?
I just was like, oh my gosh, I remember that. Yeah,
I remember that show. I didn't watch it. I was in law school.
I didn't watched it either. I didn't have time for that. No,
I didn't have time for that. I heard about it, but like
I said, I was in law school. I was working. I had
too much shit on my plate already. I did not have time to watch
TV. Yeah. So anyway, Yeah, so that's my horrible story about
the Honolulu Xerox shooting. And thank you for listening today, and thank you
to Lea. Thank you for being my co host. You're welcome, and
if you have it so welcome, You're welcome. No welcome. Before we
say goodbye, I would just like to remind everyone to subscribe or follow I'm
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Yep. So I think I have covered all the business and until our next
episode and go to crimesconsequence dot com too, I said that, Oh well,
god, I should pay more attention. I talked about our merch remember,
oh yeah, that's right. Was that the last episode and that was
this one? Oh yeah, it all kind of runs together, so like
one yeah, exactly, So until our next episode, don't kill each other. Bye bye