Father won’t be
prosecuted for fatal
shooting in Kalihi

The prosecutor and police agree
the man was defending himself
and his family

By Rod Ohira
Star-Bulletin

Warlito Ragasa will not be prosecuted for Tuesday's shooting death of his daughter's estranged boyfriend.

"It's not possible to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt," Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle said yesterday after citing Hawaii laws pertaining to self-defense.

Detective Anderson Hee, acting head of the homicide detail, agreed with Carlisle's decision. "Based on the investigation, our position is that (the shooting) was justified," Hee said. "It's very unusual. In the 10 years I've been with homicide, we haven't had another similar case."

Jose Bueno, 27, had gone to Ragasa's Kalihi residence on Kahanu Street in violation of a court order prohibiting him from having any contact with the family. During an argument, the 53-year-old Ragasa shot Bueno in the head.

Ragasa told police he fired the shot when the man reached for his fanny pack.

"Of great significance is that in February 1997, his daughter had seen Bueno with a fanny pack that contained a handgun with bullets in it," Carlisle said.

Police found no weapon in Bueno's fanny pack, Carlisle said.

Bueno allegedly had made numerous threats to Ragasa and his family since March, when the stay-away order was issued, but he violated the order on June 17, twice on June 29, again on July 12 and 26 and three times on Aug. 24, Carlisle said.

Bueno's probation, in fact, had been revoked on Aug. 14 for violating the temporary restraining order, and Family Judge Colette Garibaldi had sentenced him to 90 days in jail.

Garibaldi, however, granted Bueno's request for a one-week delayed sentence to visit his newborn son. Bueno failed to appear for sentencing Aug. 22, but the court did not issue a bench warrant for his arrest.

"The incident is regrettable because a system was in place to avoid the circumstances," Carlisle said. "The victim should have been in jail."

Carlisle made his decision after considering a section of Hawaii law that notes the use of deadly force is justifiable "if the actor believes that deadly force is necessary to protect himself against death, serious bodily injury, kidnapping, rape or forcible sodomy."

Hawaii law also says reasonable use of deadly force is "determined from the point of view of a reasonable person in the defendant's position under the circumstances as he believed them to be," Carlisle said. Because of prior threats and Ragasa's knowledge that Bueno had a fanny pack in February containing a gun, Carlisle said it would have been difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that deadly force was not justified. Ragasa "was afraid for his life and the lives of his family," Carlisle said.