A 33-year-old man now faces a prison term of 15 years to life in prison for the 2004 murder of a man shot in the head at his Makiki garage.

Donny Hiramoto, a Waimanalo construction worker, acknowledged that he was outside the apartment of Robert Lee the night of Dec. 22, 2004, but he denied he shot the victim and blamed the shooting on a man he said he saw there.

But city Deputy Prosecutor Darrell Wong said the jury's verdict was supported by circumstantial evidence that included Lee's surveillance videotape placing Hiramoto at the scene, but not showing what Wong called the "phantom" shooter committing the murder.

In addition, Wong said Hiramoto owed $15,000 to Lee, his bookie, an amount that included $8,000 in football gambling debts racked up during a period of about a week before the shooting.

The jurors deliberated most of yesterday and Thursday in rejecting Hiramoto's defense and convicting him of murder and related firearm charges.

Circuit Judge Steve Alm scheduled the sentencing for July 17.

Alm also granted Wong's request to revoke Hiramoto's bond and place him in jail to await sentencing.

Hiramoto hugged his wife Melinda and their three daughters ages 2 to 14 before he was escorted from the courtroom as the wife and older girls wailed and sobbed.

"We are just really upset with the verdict that's come down," Hiramoto's lawyer Jeffrey Hawk said.

He said based on his talk with Hiramoto, the jury reached the "wrong" decision.

"They convicted an innocent man," Hawk said.

Hawk said he plans to appeal.

Wong said the jury did a good job in seeing through Hiramoto's defense.

He said Hiramoto initially lied to police by saying he wasn't at the scene, then didn't disclose until trial his assertion that another man was also at the garage.

The deputy prosecutor acknowledged the emotion shown by Hiramoto's family members who began weeping once the verdict was announced.

"This is the consequence of what Mr. Hiramoto did," he said.

Wong also said Lee's family was relieved by the verdict.

"You can't forget about Mr. Lee," Wong said.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.