Matthew Blankswade, the 21-year-old man accused of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Jeff Brisebois last June, seems to have changed his mind again. Blankswade was slated to go to trial Monday on charges he shot the father of
Matthew Blankswade, the 21-year-old man accused of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Jeff Brisebois last June, seems to have changed his mind again.
Blankswade was slated to go to trial Monday on charges he shot the father of his then-girlfriend, Amber Brisebois, in the head while the 48-year-old man slept.
But yesterday, Blankswade appeared close to signing a plea-bargain agreement that would have given him some chance for parole in the next 30 years, rather than going to trial and facing a possible sentence of life in prison without parole.
On Thursday, Blankswade, through his court-appointed attorney, public defender Ed Acoba, asked for one more day so he could talk to his father via telephone about the proposed offer.
Then Friday morning, instead of taking the state’s deal, Blankswade said his parents were flying in from Half Moon Bay, Calif., to hire a private attorney for him, and he asked for another postponement.
Fifth Circuit Court Judge Clifford Nakea set next Tuesday morning for a status hearing in the matter of a new attorney, and postponed the trial indefinitely.
Prosecutors said after Friday’s hearing that if Blankswade does retain a private attorney, his trial probably won’t begin until late summer.
The new attorney would need time for “discovery” and to become familiar with the particulars of the case, officials said.
“The state was and is ready to proceed. We don’t want this matter to drag on,” Kaua’i County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Soong told the court.
Nakea said if the state proceeded with Blankswade’s trial next week, it would open the state up “to a reversible error” upon appeal, so he postponed the opening proceedings.
If Blankswade’s attempt to retain a private attorney fails, Acoba said he and public defender James Itamura have prepared a case and are ready to proceed.
“It was a difficult case to prepare,” Acoba said after Friday’s hearing.
“I’m disappointed. We wanted to get it resolved,” Soong said.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
