A 30-year Waikiki man entered a plea of not guilty Tuesday to a superseding indictment filed Dec. 22 after police found an unregistered assault rifle in the trunk of his car following an August car chase.
Christopher Chan, 30, entered his not guilty plea to a single count of possession of an unregistered firearm before U.S. Magistrate Judge Wes Reber Porter by telephone from the Federal Detention Center Honolulu. If convicted, Chan faces up to 10 years in prison.
His trial is scheduled for March 20 before U.S. District Court Judge Derrick K. Watson. The date was continued after originally being scheduled for January.
Chan’s attorney, Walter J. Rodby, declined comment. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christine Olson and Sara Ayabe, who are prosecuting the case for the government, did not immediately reply to Honolulu Star-Advertiser requests for comment.
A hearing will be held today on a motion to suppress evidence in the case, the assault rifle found by police.
Chan’s attorney intends to challenge the “warrantless attempt to seize Defendant while the Defendant was in the parking lot of his residence at the Wailana condominium in Waikiki,” wrote Rodby, in his Dec. 22 filing.
“The defense intends to argue that this unconstitutional attempt to seize Defendant led to the recovery of evidence at the Uraku Tower in Ala Moana. The defense also intends to argue that the recovery of evidence at the Uraku Tower is the ‘fruit’ of the warrantless attempted seizure at Wailana condominium,” Rodby wrote.
“In sum, the recovery of evidence at the Uraku Tower was poisoned by the Wailana warrantless attempted seizure of Defendant, and for that reason, said evidence should be suppressed.”
In mid-August the general manager of a Waikiki condominium told Honolulu police officers that Chan, a resident in the building, “had been the source of several complaints” from other residents about “unusual behavior.”
Residents said Chan made statements about “people tracking him” and that “neighbors were attacking him with radio frequency waves,” according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court.
Also, the manager told police there were reports of Chan trying to kick down neighbors’ doors, and that the neighbors had not filed police reports because they were afraid of him.
When the manager spoke with Chan in July, Chan said he was investigating a satanic cult being run inside the building and that he was being targeted as a human sacrifice. Chan said he didn’t report the matter because he believed that the Honolulu Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were involved in the conspiracy.
On Aug. 12 a maintenance worker at the condo building reported that while servicing the air conditioner in Chan’s unit, he saw “assault style firearms within the unit.” In another encounter, Chan allegedly told the maintenance staff member to defend himself “by any means” during the “coming apocalypse,” according to court documents.
HPD officers conducting a welfare check of Chan on Aug. 16 saw him driving out of the building’s parking structure and ordered him to stop. Chan sped off, hitting an HPD vehicle and other cars before Crime Reduction Unit officers assigned to Waikiki tracked him down and arrested him.
Chan was then transported to The Queen’s Medical Center for an evaluation of his mental health.
Officers found an AR-type rifle loaded with ammunition in the trunk of the car Chan was driving. Special agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives found that the “rifle did not contain a serial number or appropriate manufacturer markings” and was not registered.
Federal prosecutors had wanted Chan subjected to a mental health evaluation, according to a mid-September motion because federal prosecutors believe “that there exists reasonable cause to believe that defendant may presently be suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent to the extent that he is unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him or to assist properly in his defense.”
Rodby opposed the motion and in his response wrote that Chan “appears mentally fit” and “understands the charge lodged against him, he understands the role of all relevant parties in this matter, and he understands his option of pleading guilty or not guilty to said charge.”
On Oct. 18, U.S. Magistrate Judge Rom A. Trader denied the government’s motion. Chan remains in custody until his trial.
