Accused murderer Darnell Griffin asked a Circuit Judge yesterday to dismiss the charges against him.

Griffin's lawyer, Deputy Public Defender E. Edward Aquino, argued that an independent lawyer advising the grand jury on legal matters made improper statements to the panel that indicted him in 2007 of the 1999 rape and murder of 19-year-old Evelyn Luka.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Kevin Takata told Judge Dexter Del Rosario that the statements were immaterial to the panel's decision to indict Griffin.

Del Rosario asked the lawyers to submit additional written legal memos on the issue and will issue his ruling later.

Trial in the "cold case" homicide is scheduled to begin in mid-April.

Griffin was on parole for an earlier homicide conviction when the attack on Luka occurred.

He was charged after a DNA sample he provided to authorities in 2006 was matched the following year to DNA evidence collected in the Luka case.

Aquino said in court papers filed earlier in the case that Griffin "will admit to having sex with victim Evelyn Luka, but will deny that he murdered her and will claim that he was not present when Evelyn Luka was killed."

Luka was seen leaving Venus Nite Club on Kapi'olani Boulevard around midnight on Sept. 6, 1999, with a man matching Griffin's description in a vehicle matching the one that Griffin drove at the time, according to records filed in the case.

Luka was found barely alive early the next morning on the side of H-2 Freeway. Sexually assaulted and strangled, she died the following month of brain injuries when her family removed her from life support.