A man who beat murder and attempted murder charges in separate cases and was identified as a suspect in another murder is guilty of robbing an Aiea pool hall and holding its employees captive.
A state jury found Patrick Deguair Jr., 35, guilty Friday of robbery and four counts of kidnapping. He faces a mandatory 20-year prison term for one of the kidnapping counts and maximum 10-year terms for the other kidnapping charges.
Circuit Judge Glenn Kim ruled that the robbery, which carries a maximum 10-year prison term, is covered by the 20-year kidnapping charge.
Deguair admitted in court that he robbed Aiea Cue on April 3, 2008, wearing a black ski mask and carrying a crowbar.
But he said he was forced to participate in the robbery by David Teo, one of the other two robbers. He said Teo and the third robber, Ju Young Yoo, needed him to knock out the ceiling-mounted security cameras, despite the fact that he was the shortest of the three at 5 feet 6 inches.
Teo, 49, and Yoo, 37, testified against Deguair as part of their plea deals with the prosecutor. They said Deguair planned and directed the robbery.
The kidnapping charge that carries the 20-year prison term involves an employee whom Teo tackled to the floor and handcuffed. As they were splitting up the money from the robbery, Teo said, Deguair mentioned that he was owed $29 for the cuffs, which were still on the employee when they left the pool hall.
This was Deguair’s fourth felony criminal trial but will be his first conviction when Kim sentences him in December.
In 2004 he went on trial on three counts of attempted murder related to a drive-by shooting in Waipio. No one was injured in the shooting.
A state judge found Deguair not guilty after none of the victims was able to identify him. The prosecutor said in court records that witnesses were afraid to give statements to authorities because Deguair was known to carry a concealed pistol.
The prosecutor also said in court records that Deguair is a suspect in a December 2002 murder.
Michael R. Scheidt, 38, died of a gunshot wound to the chest at Kahe Point Beach Park.
Then-Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle told Scheidt’s father in a letter that no one was charged with his son’s murder because no credible witness was willing to testify. Honolulu police say the murder remains unsolved and the investigation remains open.
Deguair went on trial in 2009 for the execution-style murder of Jermaine Duckworth, a fellow suspect in a November 2007 armed, home-invasion robbery in Maili. Tourists found Duckworth’s body on some rocks at the bottom of a cliff near the beach at Yokohama Bay on March 27, 2008, a week before the Aiea Cue robbery.
Teo testified he saw Deguair shoot Duckworth in the back of the head and push him off the cliff.
Deguair implicated Teo in Duckworth’s murder.
Kim declared a mistrial after the jurors deadlocked 6-6.
Deguair went on trial for Duckworth’s murder again last year. Both Teo and Yoo testified they saw Deguair kill Duckworth, but Kim dismissed the murder charge after another set of jurors deadlocked again 6-6. The jury did, however, find Deguair guilty of kidnapping Duckworth. But Kim threw out the verdict because of juror misconduct.
The prosecutor is appealing Kim’s dismissal of the murder charge and kidnapping verdict.
Deguair is scheduled to stand trial for the Maili home-invasion robbery in March.
