Crime & Safety
Document delays hold up trial of Mills High accused killer
Failure to get reports to defense leads to delays in the trial of accused in Mills High stabbing.
The Nov. 17 hearing to set a court-date for Laungatasi Samana Ahio, 21, accused of a stabbing murder on the Mills High campus, resulted in a third court-date setting postponement— until Dec. 15.
Ed Pomeroy, defense attorney for Ahio, asked the court, in the Nov. 17 hearing, for an extension, citing that the defense "still has discovery outstanding." The defense has previously requested extensions while waiting for documents requested through the process of discovery twice, on Oct. 13 and Nov. 10.
Now the defense has been granted another three week extension to collect documents before coming back to court to set a date for a pre-trial conference and a jury-trial date.
"There are some police reports that we're making sure get into the defense's hands," said District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe prior to the Nov. 10 hearing, adding that there would probably be an extension requested at that hearing.
"It's the arresting agency. It would be the Millbrae police," said Pomeroy on Nov. 17, when asked which agency's discovery documents were still being waited on.
Ahio is being held without bail pending trial. He is being charged with one count of murder with the use of a knife, said Wagstaffe. The charges stem from the Aug. 4, 2010 stabbing and death of Jared Afu at Mills High School. The police report summary alleges that a blood trail led to a church where a backpack with a bloody knife and the accused's identification was found.
Ahio surrendered himself the next day, Aug. 5, to the South San Francisco police Department. "The parents convinced him that he had to turn himself in, and they came in with him," said Wagstaffe.