Justice Department officials met in Washington, D.C., this month to determine whether Hawai'i will have a second death penalty case, this time involving three men charged with the brazen double murder shooting at Pali Municipal Golf Course in 2004.

If approved, the prosecution will be the second pending federal death penalty case for Hawai'i, which abolished capital punishment in the 1950s, and could underscore concerns that the Bush administration is trying to spread capital punishment to the 12 non-death penalty states.

In the other Hawai'i death penalty case, Naeem Williams has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of his 5-year-old daughter in 2005.

Defense attorneys in the Pali Golf Course case urged Justice Department officials not to seek the death penalty for their three clients, while local federal prosecutors gave a confidential recommendation. The defense attorneys were not told what local federal prosecutors recommended to Justice Department officials.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Brady declined to comment on his recommendation.

Embattled U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is expected to issue a decision sometime next month on whether to authorize the death penalty prosecution. Lawyers involved in the case declined to speculate on whether Gonzales' problems related to the firing of eight U.S. attorneys will affect the decision or when it will be made.

Rodney Joseph Jr., 39; Ethan Motta, 38; and Kevin Gonsalves, 36, are charged with the murder of Lepo Utu Taliese and Romelius Corpuz and the attempted murder of Tinoimalu Sao, who was critically wounded with a shot to the head.

"It's real unfortunate that they want to inject into our local community a type of punishment the state has rejected for the last 50 years," said Gonsalves' attorney, Clifford Hunt.

Hunt said he thought the meeting went well for the defense, which had about an hour to present its arguments.

"We don't think — even had they done anything — they're deserving of death," he said. "Nobody is deserving of death, as far as I'm concerned."

VICTIMS UNARMED

Joseph, Motta and Gonsalves are accused of the shooting at the golf course parking lot that spilled over onto the course's first tee the afternoon of Jan. 7, 2004.

Police said the three victims were unarmed and said the shooting was the result of a rivalry between two groups providing security for gambling operations.

The three were charged in state courts with first-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life term without parole, the state's harshest sentence.

While the case was pending in state courts, the U.S. Attorney's Office here obtained a federal racketeering indictment last year that charged the three with committing the murders and attempted murder as part of an illegal gambling business.

Those charges carry the potential of the death sentence, paving the way for the Justice Department's internal review that resulted in the April 2 meeting with Justice Department officials.

Hunt, the defense lawyer, said Gonsalves, who is being held without bail along with the other two defendants at the Federal Detention Center, is under "a lot of stress" because of the possibility of the death sentence.

"Anyone facing that potential outcome would understandably be concerned and distressed, but I think otherwise he's hanging in there," Hunt said.

Motta's lawyer, Todd Eddins, said he presented background about his client, who does not have a criminal record and has been active in the Native Hawaiian community working with disadvantaged youths. He said in presenting evidence of self-defense for his client, the defense team argued that the men who were shot were "not exactly Eagle Scouts." Taliese's record included a conviction for a 1980 prison murder, Eddins said.

Joseph's lawyer, Reginald Minn, declined to comment.

The three are scheduled to go on trial on the state charges later this year, but city prosecutors are expected to drop their prosecution if the federal death penalty prosecution is authorized. It's not clear what would happen to the state prosecution if the death penalty is rejected. City Deputy Prosecutor Lucianne Khalaf, who is handling the state's case, could not be reached for comment.

FEDERAL DECISION

The federal racketeering trial is also scheduled for later this year, but likely will get postponed if the death penalty case is approved.

Gonzales last year approved the death penalty prosecution for Williams in the death of his daughter, Talia, even though the U.S. Attorney's Office here recommended against it. The girl died from "head trauma due to battered child syndrome," according to the autopsy.

Williams' trial is scheduled for October.

Death penalty opponents said the Williams case was an example of the Bush administration trying to "nationalize capital punishment."

Justice Department officials have said they don't comment on their death penalty reviews, but the decisionmaking includes a "fair, consistent and even-handed application of the federal capital sentencing laws nationwide to the worst offenders who commit the most egregious offenses."

The only other federal death penalty prosecution approved here was for Richard Lee Tuck "China" Chong on a first-degree murder charge for a 1997 shooting. He later pleaded guilty and received a life prison term. Chong died in prison in 2001.

Capital punishment was not approved for five other federal murder cases here.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.