By JOSEPH G. LARIOSA

(Journal Group Link International)

Filipino-American’s Bail Raised to $1.5-Million In Killing of His Son

C HICAGO (jGLi) – A Filipino-American newspaper employee is due in court on August 11 so he can turnover his Philippine passport to his lawyer, Philip Henry Lowenthal, if he has any, after his bail was raised Monday to $1.5-million after being found guilty of killing his 19-year-old son in Hawaii two years ago.

Atty. Lowenthal is now in possession of his U.S. passport.

Initially held on a $350,000 bond, Jose D. Antonio, Sr., 47, was charged with two counts of murder in the second degree and using a semi-automatic firearm.

When state prosecutor, Melinda Kathleen Mendes, raised the possibility of Antonio’s flight to the Philippines, Second Circuit Judge Joel August raised the bail to $1-million.

But during the reading of the verdict last July 20, Judge August further raised the bail to $1.5-million and ordered the confiscation of his passport.

During the bench trial of the case, the court employed an Ilocano interpreter for the benefit of Antonio, who is believed from the Ilocos region in the Philippines.

Mr. Loren Tilley, a clerk of court, told this reporter over the phone that at the sentencing of Antonio on October 20, Antonio faces a mandatory prison for life with a minimum parole date after 20 years. The state of Hawaii has no death penalty.

Antonio was found guilty in the shooting death of his son, Jose “JR” Antonio, Jr. on the night of Dec. 16, 2008, in their South Kamehameha St., Kahului home.

Antonio is in detention at the Maui Community Correctional Center.

A few hours before the shooting, Antonio’s wife, Zenaida, confronted him of going to the Philippines with another woman.

Violent Confrontation After Drinking Spree

A ccording to The Maui News, later that evening, Antonio had been drinking with relatives and friends in the garage of the main house.

Then, he and his son argued over a video-game cord running from a living room computer to the son's bedroom, where he played an online game.

The father had repeatedly asked the son to remove the cord, saying someone might trip over it.

Then, the son asked his father about the $1,400 borrowed from him partly to settle gambling debts. At one point, the father slapped his son and both threw money at each other that the father tried to repay to the son.

The son lifted one end of a couch and punched a hole in a closet during one confrontation.

The father twice pulled out the video-game cord that night, breaking it the second time.

Antonio said he heard his son swore in his bedroom when the cord broke. Antonio testified he was scared when he went into his bedroom, got and loaded his gun and went outside.

He said his son had kicked open the screen door and was swearing and had a hand on the father's neck before he fired. His son sustained five gunshot wounds.

Antonio, a former pressman of The Mauie News, drove away from the house on board his truck. He gave himself up to the Wailuku Police Station shortly afterwards.

Court record shows that Antonio was born in the Philippines. He became a U.S. citizen in 1991.

Antonio’s lawyer argued that Antonio should either be acquitted or found guilty of a lesser charge of manslaughter based on the evidence that he was under extreme mental or emotional disturbance at the time of the shooting. # # #

Editor’s Note: To contact the author, please e-mail him at:  (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)