Fil Am sentencing reset for Oct. 20

CHICAGO — Sentencing of a Filipino American newspaper employee accused of killing his 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 — after a bench trial — of killing his son, Jose “JR" Antonio, Jr., on the night of Dec. 16, 2008 outside their home at South Kamehameha St., Kahului, Hawaii. 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 million to $1 million his bail after getting assurance that Antonio did not have a Philippine passport. Judge August reduced the bail during continuation of the bail hearing on Aug. 11. At the bail hearing on July 26, Antonio’s bail was raised from $500,000 to $1.5 million after prosecutors raised concerns that he could have another passport apart from the one issued by the United States that was held by his lawyer, Philip Henry Lowenthal. Danger to community In seeking to increase the bail to $1.5 million, 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 be reduced to $500,000 as he was still keeping Antonio’s US passport. He said Antonio’s family would not be posting bail for his client. Antonio’s wife, Zenaida, told the court that she was in possession of the life insurance money of her son, JR, and that she was not planning to use it to post bail for her husband. During the trial, the court employed an Ilocano interpreter for the benefit of Antonio, who is believed from the Ilocos region. Antonio is in detention at the Maui Community Correctional Center. According to The Maui News, on the night of Dec, 16, 2008, Antonio had been drinking with relatives and friends in the garage of their main house. He and his son then argued about a video game cord running from a living room computer to the son's bedroom where JR played an online game. The father had repeatedly asked the son to remove the cord, saying someone might trip over it. Slapped his son JR 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 at each other money that the father tried to repay 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, testifying that he was scared when he went into his bedroom, loaded his gun, and went outside. He said his son had kicked open the screen door swearing and had a hand on his neck before Antonio 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 showed that Antonio was born in the Philippines. He became a US 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. — VS, GMANEws.TV