Man jailed for life for Puna beating

HILO >> With a life sentence, justice has been served, say the family and friends of Sarah Fay, the pregnant woman from Puna who was beaten and left brain-dead in 2005 but kept on life support until her baby’s birth.

Hawaii island Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura sentenced Fay’s boyfriend, 30-year-old Marwan Timothy Saad Jackson, on Friday to life with the possibility of parole, an extended term for a conviction of manslaughter.

"Manslaughter was definitely not enough," said Sarah Fay’s brother Michael Fay after the sentencing. "That’s why we were here today, to hopefully affect that. … The most important thing today is that justice is served."

The 34-year-old Fay was 7 1/2 months pregnant with Jackson’s child when she was found unconscious with injuries to her head and body on Nov. 25, 2005, at her Fern Acres home. She was transferred to the Queen’s Medical Center and kept on life support until Josiah Darcy Fay, now 5 1/2 years old, was delivered by Caesarian section on Dec. 12, 2005.

Jackson was tried for second-degree murder, but a Hawaii island jury found him guilty Feb. 8 of the lesser sentence of manslaughter, which carries a 20-year maximum sentence.

Friday morning, after the sentence was read, Jackson showed little emotion, staring blankly. His mother grimaced with anguish.

But Fay’s family audibly sighed with relief.

Fay’s siblings and their spouses addressed the court, asking for an extended term, and directly faced Jackson, who kept his head bowed most of the time.

Carie Fay told Jackson and the court, "I am now Josiah’s mother. I will have to one day tell him what you did to him. And I will tell him that justice was served."

Sarah Fay had two other children from another relationship, Adahy and Wahliya.

Carie Fay told the judge, "Our whole family is praying that you will give him the maximum sentence."

Nakamura said, "The court’s main concern is protection of the public."

He said at age 55, Jackson would still have enough physical capacity to harm another person. He told Jackson that if he is still a danger to the community at 55, the parole board could continue to keep him incarcerated.

Michael Fay and his wife, Carie, are raising his sister’s son as their own. He told the judge, "He needs life in prison. He truly, truly was a murderer." He pleaded for extended terms so "this can never happen again."

Stacey Fay asked Jackson, "What gave you the right to beat my sister," to verbally abuse her and destroy her possessions? "And you did this all in front of her kids. That blows my mind."

"She will never see her kids graduate. … She will never be a grandmother. … I will never be able to hug her again. Do you possibly know how that feels? You took that away from all of us."

She held up a small green box.

"And this is what I have left of her, a box with a tiny urn with ashes and bone," she said. "This is all I have left of my sister besides some memories."

Michael Fay said he based his belief that his sister’s death was murder upon seeing her sister’s eyes bruised and swollen and the bite marks on her bruised body at the hospital: "This was no accident."

He said he later came to understand that "she was trapped by domestic violence."

He told the court, "I lost my sister, her kids lost their mom and my mom lost her daughter. No one would hurt a pregnant girlfriend. … He truly was a murderer."

Jackson’s attorney, Stanton Oshiro, asked for a 21-year sentence, in line with the manslaughter conviction plus one year for the violation of a protective order, for which he was also found guilty.

Fay had filed a restraining order against Jackson.

Oshiro argued the state had not established that Jackson posed a danger to the community, but rather that Jackson had helped younger inmates during his five years of incarceration.

Jackson read a statement to the court: "I bear the pain of my wife’s passing. … What happened was a tragic accident."

He said he prays for Fay’s family, their son and her other children.

Jackson had testified at trial that Fay fell twice while they argued on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24, 2005, once while hitting a coffee table and once when they fell together, with Fay receiving a black eye when she hit her head on his elbow. She also fell down a flight of stairs the next morning, Jackson said.

Jackson’s mother, Linda Naniseni, said before the sentencing, "I felt that it was a fair trial. … I don’t think he deserves life. I know this was just a horrific accident."

She said Fay went into a jealous rage at Thanksgiving dinner after Jackson gave a 16-year-old girl, who was a family friend, an eagle feather, and she gave him a Rastafarian ring, and that was what they had argued about.

Deputy Prosecutor Mike Kagami said retired Honolulu Medical Examiner Dr. Kanthi De Alwis testified that all Fay’s injuries could not have come from a fall because she had multiple points of impact, including bruising to the neck.

Kagami said Fay also had a bite mark, bruises to both eyes, head injuries and bleeding in the brain, a fracture on her right side and bruises to her arms and legs.

Fay’s friend Michelle Coe said she and other friends helped bathe Fay while at Queen’s and saw how badly her body was bruised.

"He was extremely abusive their whole relationship," she said. "This was not an isolated incident."

The Hawaii Paroling Authority will meet, typically within six months, to hold a minimum-term hearing for Jackson, Kagami said.

Kagami said the verdict could have gone either way, but the manslaughter verdict "was in line with what the facts show."

The difference between murder and manslaughter rests in state of mind. Murder involves intentional or knowing conduct, whereas manslaughter is reckless conduct resulting in death, he said.

Kagami argued for the life sentence, citing Jackson’s four prior felony convictions for violent acts, including dragging a police officer for some distance while the officer’s arm was inside Jackson’s car.

As for young Josiah, Michael and Carie Fay say he now has two loving parents and a wonderful life in Colorado and is about to begin kindergarten.

Josiah is a happy child, very funny, with lots of friends at school, they said.

When they look at their son, now more than 4 feet tall, they see Sarah in him.

"He’s extremely kind, not greedy. He thinks of others before himself, and that’s Sarah," Carie Fay said.

"Sarah is his angel mommy," she added. "That’s why we came today, because she can’t be (here)."

Hawaii News Now video: Big Island man gets life in beating death of pregnant girlfriend