Newswatch

Questionnaires will seek potential jurors

About 235,000 juror questionnaires will be mailed to Hawaii residents starting Monday to help select people for jury duty next year, the state Judiciary said Wednesday.

The questionnaires will be sent to people with Hawaii driver’s licenses and registered voters in Hawaii, the judiciary said.

About 85,000 will be sent to Oahu residents, 70,000 on Hawaii island, 55,000 on Maui and 25,000 on Kauai.

Those who receive questionnaires have 10 days to return them to the Jury Pool Office.

The judiciary said anyone who fails to respond may be penalized.

To be eligible to serve as a juror, a person must be able to read and understand English, be 18 years old, a U.S. citizen and a Hawaii resident, the judiciary said.

The judiciary said for the first time residents also will be mailed a certificate claiming a permanent disability that prohibits them from serving as a juror.

For more information, call the judiciary’s public affairs office at 539-4909 or pao@courts.state.hi.us.

Man to enter plea for multiple offenses

The 37-year-old Mililani man charged with forcing his way into a Waipio home and firing a gun while trying to evade police is scheduled to enter a plea today in Circuit Court.

Lance L.H. Yurong has been charged with first-degree burglary, auto theft, attempted auto theft, unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle, second-degree reckless endangering, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and promotion of a dangerous drug.

His bail was set at $500,000.

Acting on a tip on July 26, police officers went to a parking lot on Ka Uka Boulevard looking for a man suspected of robbing a recycling collection center July 5, police said. Yurong was found sitting in a stolen parked car, which he drove into a wall while trying to escape.

Police said he abandoned the stolen car and ran to a home on Mele Place, firing one shot from a handgun.

He then forcibly entered the Mele Place home where two people were able to escape.

Yurong then hid in a parked van on Waipio Uka Street and tried unsuccessfully to start the van before he was arrested.

Man admits to killing wife

A Hawaii island man pleaded guilty Tuesday to stabbing his wife to death more than two years ago.

Steve Santos Dingle was to stand trial next week for second-degree murder in the death of his wife, Cathy Esteves Dingle.

Instead, he’ll be sentenced in October.

Reading from a prepared statement in Ilocano, Dingle admitted stabbing the mother of four several times with a kitchen knife in May 2010 on the Hilo bayfront.

The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reports that in exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors won’t pursue a sentence of life without parole.

According to court records, Dingle had threatened to kill his wife if he caught her with another man.

The Dingles were married for 19 years. Steve Dingle filed for divorce in 2004 but the case was dismissed in 2007.

Mayor visits during storm

Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa was scheduled to visit a county mayor on Taiwan Wednesday when Typhoon Saola hit the north of the nation as a Category 2 storm with 105 mph winds.

Arakawa was to visit Mayor Yeh Shou-Shan of Pingtung County, with which Maui County has a sister-county relationship. Pingtung County is at the southern tip of the country.

A Maui County spokesman said the staff has been unable to reach Arakawa.

The trip is paid for and sponsored by the Taipei Economic Cultural Office in Washington, D.C., to promote economic and cultural exchanges between the U.S. and Taiwan.

The office selected 10 mayors from various states.