WAILUKU - A defense witness said that a few days before a shooting at a Kula residence, victim Francis "Randy" Randall was involved in a heated argument with suspect Mark A. Martins, The Maui News reported today.

"I heard loud yelling," said Diana Robinson, who was living in the main house on the property. "It was loud enough to make me get up and take a look and see what was going on."

Testifying Wednesday for the defense in Martins' attempted murder trial, Robinson said she saw Martins and Randall facing each other in the driveway. Both men were yelling but Randall more loudly, she said.

"He appeared very angry and intimidating," she said. "It made me nervous. It's the kind of tone that you think it's going to escalate.

"I was more afraid for Mr. Martins, that it was going to escalate onto him, just because he was smaller."

She said the argument ended when Martins walked away.

When she was stopped at a roadblock on Kula Highway while driving home from work before 12:30 a.m. May 3, 2007, and heard there had been a shooting, Robinson said she immediately thought it had occurred at the residence.

Police recovered bullet casings indicating that more than 50 shots were fired starting at about 10:30 p.m. May 2, 2007, while eight men were drinking beer and grilling steaks at the top of the driveway on the residential property on Kula Highway about 1 miles above Rice Park.

Martins was a tenant in a cluster of residences on the one-acre property owned by Randall's mother, who lived in the main house.

Randall, 45, testified he was sitting in a chair outside when Martins fired a semiautomatic pistol. He was hit on his left elbow and inner right thigh.

Police evacuated nearby homes during a standoff that ended the following morning when Martins surrendered.

Martins, 55, has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and other charges in connection with the shooting. The next day, he told police he shot at the van and the ground but wasn't trying to kill anyone.

The prosecution rested its case Wednesday morning.

The first defense witnesses were two police officers who spoke with Randall and his half brother Jason Bass on Kula Highway shortly after the shooting.

Officer Mary-Lee Sagawinit, who talked to Bass, and officer Dawn Danley, who spoke to Randall, reported smelling alcohol on both men. Both had testified they weren't intoxicated that night.

Bass told Sagawinit he didn't see a weapon, she said. Earlier in the trial, Bass testified that Martins pointed a gun and fired four times when Bass went up the driveway to confront Martins after learning Randall had been shot.

When Danley asked Randall whether Martins had a weapon, he said, "I think he has a handgun" but wasn't sure of the type, Danley said.

Robinson, who met Martins when he first moved onto the Kula property in November 2005, said she didn't see him around much.

"He just kept to himself," she said.

Robinson said she couldn't remember what Randall and Martins argued about a few days before the shooting. She said she didn't remember hearing any threats and didn't see any weapons.

After Martins walked away, she said she went to talk to Randall because she was concerned by a look she had seen on Martins' face.

"It was a look that he had just had enough, that Randy was so overbearing, that it looked like he was just kind of crumbling inside," she said. "And that concerned me, that he had pushed him so far."

At the roadblock after the shooting, Robinson said she encountered residents from the property and three men who had been at the barbecue. She described Bass, Ludwig Baker and Joseph "Maui Joe" Freehouse as "loud and drunk."

"They were out there yelling, acting like it was some kind of party," she said. "It was really irritating. They just appeared to have such a disregard for what was going on."

Because she had the only vehicle, Robinson said the men wanted her to drive them to the store to buy more beer.

The trial is scheduled to continue today.

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.