Trial opens for Maui man accused of killing police officer
A murder trial has begun on Maui for the man accused of shooting and killing a police officer, with both sides offering sharply different accounts of that night.
- Clembert Alii Kaneholani, 39, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Maui police officer Suzanne O in Paia last year.
- Prosecutors opened with a jailhouse phone call they say captures him bragging about the shooting.
- The state says he wanted revenge after police served him a restraining order, took his son, and removed him from his Makawao home.
- His defense counters that officers never announced themselves as they moved through the buildings and field that night.
Outlook: Testimony continues as the jury weighs whether the shooting was deliberate or a deadly mistake in the dark.