Attorneys for convicted double murderer Raita Fuku­saku asked the Hawaii Paroling Authority on Monday to set his minimum prison term at 20 years because he was an accomplice to the 1994 gunshot murders, not the shooter.

"There is no evidence that he directly participated in the crime," said attorney Myles Breiner.

He and attorney Gary Modafferi claim that members of the "yakuza," or Japa­nese organized crime syndicate, killed well-known Japa­nese fortuneteller Toako "Koto­tome" Fujita and her son Goro so that Goro, the illegitimate son of a prominent Japa­nese businessman, would not inherit any of the businessman’s money.

Darrell Wong, deputy prosecutor, said regardless of whether Fuku­saku was the shooter or an accomplice, he deserves a minimum longer than 20 years based on the heinous nature of the crimes.

The parole board convened Monday to set the minimum amount of time Fuku­saku must spend behind bars on two back-to-back life sentences (each with a minimum of 20 years) before he can be eligible for parole. This hearing came after the Supreme Court and state Intermediate Court of Appeals threw out minimum terms set by the board.

It will notify the parties of its decision by mail within two weeks. Fuku­saku, 45, participated in the hearing by videoconference from Saguaro Correctional Center in Arizona, where he is serving his life sentences.

A state jury found Fuku­saku guilty in 1995 of murder in the shooting deaths of the Fuji­tas.

Honolulu firefighters found Toako Fujita’s body in the closet of her penthouse apartment at 1350 Ala Moana Blvd. on Feb. 23, 1994, with a gunshot wound to her chest after someone started a fire in the apartment. Later that day, firefighters found Goro Fujita’s body with a gunshot wound to the chest in his car in the parking lot of the Park Shore Hotel in Waikiki after the car had been set on fire.