BREAKING: Jury finds Bernard Brown guilty of murdering Mo Monsalve | News, Sports, Jobs

Defendant Bernard Brown (right) stands next to his attorney, Randall Hironaka, as they watch the jury leave the courtroom after closing arguments Wednesday. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos

A 2nd Circuit Court jury has found Bernard Brown guilty of murdering Moreira “Mo” Monsalve, a 46-year-old Maui woman who went missing in 2014.

Judge Peter Cahill read aloud the unanimous verdict in court on Thursday afternoon, a day after the jury began deliberations.

Brown, 51, had pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder of his ex-girlfriend Monsalve, who was last seen at his apartment at Iao Parkside in Wailuku the night of Jan. 12, 2014. She was reported missing Jan. 14, 2014, after family members and co-workers grew worried.

The trial began Aug. 1 and featured about 35 witnesses, including the man who found Monsalve’s purse and other belongings in a dumpster in Papohaku Park on Jan. 13, 2014, the FBI agent who studied the calls and activity on Monsalve’s phone after she went missing and Monsalve’s daughter, Alexis Felicilda.

While Monsalve’s body hasn’t been found since she went missing eight years ago, Deputy Prosecutor J.W. Hupp said in closing arguments on Wednesday that Brown’s “mistakes,” including what he said and did, added up to proof that he murdered her.

“He did a pretty good job of covering up,” Hupp said. “But those little mistakes, those little things he didn’t anticipate — there’s a lot of things that came out over time.”

Defense attorney Randall Hironaka argued that Monsalve’s family and friends and police were focused on Brown from the start and didn’t investigate others.

“It was a witch hunt,” Hironaka said in closing arguments.

“There was reasonable doubt in this case, a ton of it, based not only on the evidence presented but the lack of evidence,” he told jurors.

Brown’s sentencing hearing is set for Nov. 23. The charge carries a mandatory term of life in prison with the possibility of parole.

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