A state jury deliberated just over one full day before finding Adrian-John Bringas guilty Friday of murder in April’s stabbing death of 16-year-old Farrington High School football player Wesley Ulugalu-Sula.
The jury also found Bringas not guilty of assault in the stabbing of Ulugalu-Sula’s older brother Chippa Ulugalu-Sula in the same incident.
The boys’ mother, Mua Ulugalu, said she is pleased with the guilty verdict.
“At least we got justice for my son,” she said. “I just hope (the Hawaii Paroling Authority) will make the right decision on how long (Bringas) will be serving in prison.”
Bringas, 28, faces a mandatory life prison term with the possibility for release on parole at sentencing in May. The state parole board will decide when Bringas will be eligible for parole.
A prosecution witness had testified that Bringas offered to sell Ulugalu-Sula some marijuana outside the Towers at Kuhio Park public housing complex in Kalihi. The witness said Bringas attacked Ulugalu-Sula after Ulugalu-Sula had sampled some of the marijuana and then told Bringas he had no money to buy any.
Ulugalu-Sula died of a single stab wound to his chest.
Another witness said he tried to stop Bringas from running away but backed off when Bringas brandished the knife he used to stab Ulugalu-Sula. Chippa Ulugalu-Sula testified that Bringas stabbed him in the right leg after he hit Bringas in the head with an object to try to stop him from fleeing.
Bringas testified Tuesday that he had been mobbed by a group of people and that he swung his knife blindly to get his attackers off him.
“I didn’t know that I stabbed (Wesley Ulugalu-Sula). I didn’t mean to stab anybody,” Bringas said.
Bringas also said he wanted “to proclaim a moment of silence for brother Wesley.”
That didn’t go over well with the victims’ relatives who were in the courtroom.
“I think he was mocking Wesley’s family,” Ulugalu said.
Bringas was on probation for a 2010 robbery conviction when he stabbed Ulugalu-Sula, and he had a $20,000 warrant out on him for missing a court hearing four days before the stabbing.
The prosecutor had filed papers for an extended term of imprisonment for the murder — to life without the possibility for parole— because Bringas was facing two felonies or because Bringas has a prior felony conviction.
The not-guilty verdict to assault disqualified Bringas for an extended sentence as a multiple offender, but he still qualified as a repeat offender, and Deputy Prosecutor Rodney Veary said he wanted to pursue an extended sentence. However, acting Circuit Judge Paul B.K. Wong already had discharged the jury, and Veary said he was not ready for an extended-sentencing trial.
