Opening statements in the case against two men accused of the 2020 murder of Ueta Savelio Muasika Jr. in San Mateo began Feb. 25, the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office said.
John Paasi
Isileli Mahe
John “Talia” Paasi and Isileli Mahe are accused of a deliberate shooting of Muasika Oct. 30, 2020, on the 1600 block of Eleanor Drive in San Mateo’s 19th Avenue Park neighborhood, motivated by the 2019 arson murder of Paasi’s grandmother by Muasika’s cousin Fifita Tau, the DA’s Office said.
San Mateo police said Tau, who was convicted for the murder, set the fire because he thought it was the residence of rival West Side Tonga Gang members, who he blamed for violence against family members in the Eastside Shoreview Crips.
Muasika was shot several times in the driveway of his residence on Eleanor Drive on the morning of Oct. 30 after being ambushed, with his 2-year-old son suffering from a gunshot wound to his face. The child recovered from his injuries, but Muasika was declared dead at the scene. Muasika was also a local rap artist known as Juice Boi from the music group “Cutthroat Mode.”
Defense attorney Brandon Douglass, who is representing Mahe, said that his client has no real connection to San Mateo County and no reason whatsoever to desire Muasika’s murder. During opening statements, Douglass said he asked that jurors keep an open mind throughout the presentation of the evidence and to follow the law.
“I don’t think they can prove my client was involved in this, because he wasn't,” Douglass said. “The best defense in a case like this is when your client is actually innocent. After working on this case for several years, I believe my client has absolutely nothing to do with it.”
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Defense attorney Eric Hove, who is representing Paasi, largely declined to comment on the case and said the matter was being addressed in front of a jury.
“My client has entered a plea of not guilty and has denied responsibility,” he said.
An 18-month investigation led to the arrest of Paasi in Charlotte, North Carolina, while Mahe was arrested in Honolulu. Following an extradition process, the pair are now in the San Mateo County Jail. The two men have been charged with murder, with a special circumstance for lying in wait.
San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe lauded the investigative work that led to the arrests.
“It was a long, thorough and brilliant investigation by the San Mateo County detective division to be able to apprehend these two individuals, who had moved to two different ends of the country,” he said.
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