By JOSEPH G. LARIOSA

(© Journal Group Link International)

C HICAGO (jGLi) – Sentencing of a Filipino-American newspaper employee accused of killing his own 19-year-old son was moved from Oct. 7 to Oct. 20, according to a law clerk of the Second Circuit Judge Joel August in Wailuku, Hawaii.

Loren Tilley told this reporter over the phone that both parties in the case have requested delays to give them time to present “findings and conclusions that support the verdict.”

Joe D. Antonio, Sr., 47, was found guilty of killing his son, Jose “JR” Antonio, Jr., on the night of Dec. 16, 2008, outside their home at South Kamehameha St., Kahului, Hawaii after a bench trial.

Antonio faces a mandatory prison for life with a minimum parole date after 20 years. The state of Hawaii has no death penalty.

While Antonio was awaiting sentencing, Judge August reduced from $1.5-M to $1-M his bail after getting assurance that Antonio did not have a Philippine passport.

Judge August reduced his bail during the continuation of the bail hearing last Aug. 11. During the bail hearing of July 26, Antonio’s bail was increased from $500,000 to $1.5-M after prosecutors raised concerns that he could have an additional passport besides one issued by the United States that is being held by his lawyer, Philip Henry Lowenthal.

DANGER TO COMMUNITY

In seeking to increase his bail to $1.5-M, Deputy Prosecutor Melinda Mendes expressed concern that Antonio could also use his brother’s passport to flee the country and that Antonio is a danger to the community.

Lowenthal, however, insisted that bail of his client be reduced to $500,000 as he is still keeping Antonio’s U.S. passport. He said Antonio’s family would not be posting bail for his client.

At the same time, Antonio’s wife, Zenaida, told the court that she is possession of the life insurance money of her son, JR., and she is not planning to use it to post bail for her husband.

During the 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.

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.

According 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.

SLAPPED HIS SON

T hen, 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)