After 30 years in prison for murder, new DNA evidence frees Hawaii man who maintained innocence

In this photo provided by Kenneth Lawson, Gordon Cordeiro, who spent 30 years in prison for a murder he said he didn't commit, enjoys dinner at a steak house Friday, Feb. 21, 2025, in Kahului, Hawaii, hours after a judge ordered him released because of new evidence. (Kenneth Lawson via AP)

HONOLULU — A Hawaii man who spent 30 years in prison for a murder he long denied committing declared the day “Freedom Friday” and said he was eager to visit his mother after a judge ordered him released because of new DNA evidence.

There were gasps and cries in the courtroom when Judge Kirstin Hamman said, “And the judgement and sentence is vacated and the defendant is ordered to be released from custody,” before a Zoom feed broadcasting the hearing suddenly turned off.

She ruled that new evidence, including DNA test results, would likely change the outcome of another trial against Gordon Cordeiro.

The case involves the 1994 killing of Timothy Blaisdell during a drug deal robbery on the island of Maui.

Cordeiro’s first trial ended in a hung jury, with only one juror voting to convict him. But he was later found guilty of murder, robbery and attempted murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

The Hawaii Innocence Project took up his case, and during a hearing this week it argued that Cordeiro must be released on the grounds of new evidence proving his innocence, ineffectiveness of his previous attorney and prosecutorial misconduct.

Maui County Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Martin said he was disappointed in the ruling and “None of the judge’s findings exonerate him in any way.”

His office intends to appeal and file a motion seeking to impose bail on Cordeiro’s release, Martin added, saying there is a flight risk because a murder charge is involved.

Kenneth Lawson, co-director of the Hawaii Innocence Project, said it was a very emotional moment.

“He cried, we all cried,” Lawson said. “He believed that he was going to be exonerated ... but having gone through two trials, you lose faith in the justice system. To finally hear a judge say, ‘I’m vacating your convictions,’ that’s when it hit him.”

Following his release Cordeiro, now 51, stood outside the Maui Community Correctional Center and talked to reporters, calling it “Freedom Friday.” The Associated Press listened by phone from Honolulu.

He said he felt thankful. He thanked his supporters, the judge and even prosecutors who stipulated to certain facts in the case.

“I’d like to go see my mom,” Cordeiro said. “Would be nice.”

Asked about adjusting to life as a free man after 30 years behind bars, he said, “I got good support.”

According to court documents filed by Cordeiro’s attorneys, he was wrongfully convicted in part because police relied upon four jailhouse informants motivated by promises of reduced sentences and fabricated murder-for-hire plots.

“Unfortunately for Cordeiro, the State’s use of incentivized jailhouse informants and their fabricated evidence and testimony about the murder-for-hire plots, was enough to convince a jury of his guilt in his second trial,” the Hawaii Innocence Project said in a court filing.

However the judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to show that the state intentionally used false testimony and rejected a claim of prosecutorial misconduct.

Cordeiro had several alibis for the day Blaisdell was killed, his attorneys said: The then-22-year-old was at home with his parents and sisters, spending the day building a shelving unit in his family’s open-air garage and installing a stereo in his sister’s car — nowhere near the so-called Skid Row area in upcountry Maui where the killing happened.

Blaisdell had gone to Skid Row with a man named Michael Freitas and planned to buy a pound of marijuana with US$800 in cash, according to court documents. His body was found at the bottom of a ravine.

Freitas kept changing his story, Cordeiro’s attorneys said, and he shifted the blame onto their client, a friend who he falsely believed had “snitched” on him in an unrelated drug case.

After Cordeiro’s conviction, new testing on physical evidence from the scene excluded him as the source of DNA on Blaisdell’s body and other crime scene evidence, the Hawaii Innocence Project said, and a a DNA profile of an unidentified person was found on the inside pockets of Blaisdell’s jeans.

The judge agreed that the new DNA evidence and new information about gunshot residue would change the results of a later trial.

Cordeiro’s attorneys believe Freitas, who died in 2020, set Blaisdell up to be robbed and was involved in his killing.

“The police botched this case from the beginning and turned the No. 1 suspect into the state’s star witness, resulting in a 30-plus-year nightmare and miscarriage of justice for Gordon and his family,” Lawson said.

Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, The Associated Press