Jason Rumbawa and Anthony K. Brown sat through two months-long trials on charges related to the slaying of an 'Aiea man shot by three masked gunmen in October 2003. Rumbawa was charged with murder and Brown with robbery as the getaway driver for the gunmen. Juries in both trials could not reach a unanimous verdict on the charges.

Yesterday, Circuit Judge Michael Town granted a defense request to dismiss the case rather than allow the city prosecutor's office to proceed to a third trial.

The two left the courtroom free of any criminal charges. They embraced and shook hands in the hallway. Both insist they are innocent. And both denied allegations by the prosecution that they were members of a gang.

"It's like a weight off my shoulders," said Brown, 25, who spent about a month in custody in the case and plans to enlist in the Navy. "I'm very happy."

Rumbawa, 25, a former intern at a television station, said he was a student at Heald College when arrested. "All of a sudden, my life had gotten disrupted," he said.

Rumbawa said he was behind bars for about three months before his release.

"Hopefully, I can get my life together again," he said.

City Deputy Prosecutor Lucianne Khalaf said she plans to appeal the dismissal.

The dismissal is the latest development in the contentious case, which disclosed a rift between two Honolulu police homicide detectives. The investigation also was complicated by the murder of Guylan Nuuhiwa six days later in the parking lot of Longs Drug Store in Pearl City, less than three miles from the shooting of the 'Aiea man, Greg Morishima.

Both shootings were connected to drugs, according to police, and the violence alarmed area residents.

Rumbawa and Brown were among four men who went on trial twice in the Morishima murder case. Micah Kanahele and Rosalino Ramos also were charged with murder.

The first trial lasted two months and ended in a hung jury. The second took three months and also resulted in a hung jury, except for a verdict finding Kanahele guilty of a lesser charge of manslaughter.

Kanahele also is charged with murdering Nuuhiwa. Although Town dismissed Ramos' murder charge, Ramos must still stand trial on a charge of robbery in the Nuuhiwa shooting.

In the two Morishima murder trials, the prosecution relied on Kevin K. Harris, who acknowledged being at the scene of both shootings. City prosecutors contended that Harris and the defendants wanted to steal drugs and went to two houses before ending up at Pamoho Place in 'Aiea.

Morishima, 48, who was in the garage, joked when he saw the masked men the night of Oct. 26, 2003, and remarked it was too early for Halloween. He was shot and the masked men fled.

The defense attorneys in both trials denounced the way police investigated the case and their reliance on Harris. They argued Harris was trying to deflect blame from the real gunman and was not worthy of belief.

In the second trial, they were able to elicit testimony showing a dispute between lead detective Sheryl Sunia and detective Larry Tamashiro over what was said about a request for a ballistics test.

Yesterday, the defense attorneys for Rumbawa, Brown and Ramos argued it would be unfair to try the defendants a third time. In addition, they argued they would be retried on the murder charge when the so-called principal defendant, Kanahele, was found guilty of the lesser manslaughter charge.

Khalaf argued that her office should get a third chance because of jury misconduct in the first two trials. In the first, the jury was deadlocked 11-1 in favor of conviction because one juror would not confirm the guilty verdict if polled by the judge, she said. In the second trial, a juror said she would not convict any Filipino defendant, Khalaf said.

In his ruling, Town noted that the Hawai'i Supreme Court has suggested that the dismissal of the charges is warranted if defendants go through two trials that end with hung juries.

The defense lawyers applauded Town's ruling.

"He had the guts to do the right thing," said Brown's attorney, Jeffrey Hawk.

"I think it (the ruling) was fair under the situation," said Rumbawa's lawyer, Art Ross. "He called it as he saw it."

Khalaf said she thought Town abused his discretion.

"We're very disappointed because we expected the judge to follow the law in evaluating what is in the best interest of serving the administration of justice, and dismissal is not," she said.

The appeal would ask the Hawai'i Supreme Court to reinstate the charges for a third trial.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.