Justin Klein, in custody on Kauai on a second-degree attempted murder charge, has a long criminal history in Oregon that includes arson and evading police on an all-terrain vehicle.
Kauai police arrested Klein, 37, over the weekend in a case involving a Japanese tourist. He is accused of throwing Azusa Ino off a 15-foot cliff in Kalalau Valley in December.
Klein is being held at the Kauai Community Correctional Center in lieu of $1 million bail.
Klein, who was previously married and has two daughters, owned a landscaping business in Eugene, but his life changed when he got involved with methamphetamine, his sister, Jody Pearson, said in a phone interview from Canton, Ga.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Patty Perlow of Lane County, Ore., said Klein has a criminal history that includes methamphetamine possession, growing marijuana and reckless endangering.
In April and May 2012, he failed to appear in court for probation violation proceedings after he was convicted of first-degree arson involving a fire at the Eugene Christian Fellowship Church.
According to a June 2010 news release, firefighters saw a man run from the rear of the building when they responded to a blaze at the church. Police located Klein and arrested him.
Klein’s sister said he fled to Kauai in late spring of 2012 to evade police. "He didn’t have a plan," Pearson said. "He was moving there for a new beginning."
She criticized Lane County for failing to extradite him on the arson case.
"If they had done the right thing and extradited him, this incident might not have occurred," she said.
But Perlow said they wouldn’t have been able to hold Klein because of jail overcrowding.
Pearson said her brother at some point was under observation at a mental health facility in Oregon.
She said she and her family thought Klein was dead when they didn’t hear from him after October.
On Saturday, Klein called Pearson and told her about the Kalalau Valley incident and said he wanted to turn himself in.
Ino, 31, who suffered head injuries, was hospitalized and underwent surgery before returning to Japan.
Before the arson case, Klein was convicted of attempting to elude police and reckless endangering in Coos County, Ore. In July 2009, police arrested Klein after he allegedly operated an all-ter- rain vehicle on city streets, which is prohibited, according to Sgt. Pat Downing of the Coos County Sheriff’s office. He traveled against traffic and led police on a chase before he stopped the vehicle and fled on foot.
Police arrested him a few hours later.
