Killer sentenced to life in prison

A 19-year-old man was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole Wednesday for murdering taxicab driver Charlys Ty Tang, whose badly beaten body was found in the Waipahu Times Super Market parking lot in 2010.

Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario, in sentencing Kilani Derego for second-degree murder, also ordered him to pay $10,000 in restitution. The Hawaii Paroling Authority will hold a hearing to determine the minimum term Derego must serve before he’s eligible for parole.

Michael Robles, 20, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for manslaughter for his role in Tang’s death. The parole board recently set his minimum term at 18 years. Robles won’t be considered for parole until May 1, 2028.

In the early morning hours of May 1, 2010, a bystander found Tang badly beaten and unconscious. He was taken to the Queen’s Medical Center, where he died later that day, his 41st birthday.

Attorney Jeffrey Hawk said Derego intends to file an appeal. Derego declined to make a statement during sentencing.

With the assistance of an interpreter, Tang’s wife, Xiaoling Tang, said, "I’m a widow now and the two children have no father, no father to love anymore."

Tang, a native of Cambodia, had two children, Aprille and Jarvis, from a previous relationship.

In February, a state jury found Derego guilty of second-degree murder.

After the sentencing hearing, Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bell said, "They disregarded or disbelieved his alibi defense and in my opinion came to the right decision notwithstanding the difficulties posed by the evidence, including Mr. Robles’ behavior in the trial."

During Derego’s trial in February, Robles recanted his earlier confessions.

Robles was a prosecution witness against Derego, and Bell expected Robles to repeat what he told police after he was arrested in 2010 and what he said in his own trial: that he and Derego beat Tang after riding in Tang’s cab to Waipahu from Waikiki.

But before Robles could be questioned, he said, "With all due respect to the court and to the jury and the judge, all I can say (is) that everything that I said in that (police) statement and everything that I said in my trial were all a bunch of lies."

Robles then said he would refuse to answer any questions.

Derego and Robles grew up together in the Hilo area. They lived together in a Hale Kipa therapeutic group home in Manoa for at-risk youth at the time of Tang’s death, according to testimony in Robles’ trial.

Derego had testified that he was at a party with his girlfriend at a Schofield Barracks apartment the night Tang was fatally beaten.