The lawyer for accused murderer Makuola Collins told a state jury Tuesday that the victim’s younger brother — not Collins — was the only person on whom authorities found gunshot residue following the fatal shooting in Kaneohe.

Collins, 27, is on trial in state court for murder in connection with the Jan. 2 shooting death of Joel Botelho and for attempted murder for allegedly shooting at Botelho’s 22-year-old brother, Leon "Bubba" Botelho.

Joel Botelho was living and working on Hawaii island at the time but had traveled to Oahu with his girlfriend and child to celebrate his 27th birthday with his family, said Wayne Tashima, deputy city prosecutor.

"The evidence will show that Joel Botelho was unarmed and that the defendant, Makuola Collins, intentionally or knowingly shot and killed Joel Botelho," Tashima said.

Defense lawyer David Hayakawa said after police tested everyone who was at the shooting for gunshot residue — left on a person who fires a gun — only one person turned up positive.

"Makuola Collins did not have any gunshot residue on his hands, on his clothes or in his car. Bubba did," Hayakawa said.

The Collins and Botelho families live in Kaneohe about a quarter-mile apart. Collins and Joel Botelho had been classmates since elementary school and teammates on Castle High School’s football team, on which Botelho was a star quarterback.

Just before the shooting, Leon Botelho said, he was kicked out of Club Komomai in the Kaneohe Shopping Center for sucker-punching Collins. When he and his brother returned home, Leon Botelho said they realized they had been followed. Leon Botelho said he retrieved a rifle he had hidden under a shed to confront whoever had followed them.

He said he encountered four males in the area surrounding his parents’ home, including Collins, and saw other figures moving in the darkness. At that point he said he wasn’t sure where his brother was.

Botelho said he fired the only round that was in his rifle into the ground as a warning shot. He said he then saw Collins shoot his brother and then fire at him.

Tashima said Joel Botelho died from a gunshot wound caused by a bullet of a different caliber from the rifle.

Under questioning from Hayakawa, Leon Botelho admitted that he initially did not tell police he had the rifle or that he saw Collins shoot at his brother. Later, he admitted to having the rifle but said he had wrested it away from one of two men with whom he had gotten into a struggle. He said he ran past the person with the rifle to confront another man when all three got in a struggle.

Hayakawa asked Botelho why he felt the need to lie about running past the man with the rifle to confront a man who had no weapon.

"At that point I don’t even know what I said," Botelho said, "I know I was wrong for having the gun."

Hayakawa said Leon Botelho also told police it was not him, but the man from whom he had taken the rifle who fired the first shot.

Botelho said Tuesday he dumped the rifle in some bushes after his father told him to get rid of it. Police recovered the rifle.