A state judge found Waianae pig farmer Clayton Higa not guilty by reason of insanity today in the 2006 bludgeoning death of his girlfriend.

Higa, 46, fatally beat 21-year-old Shantel Figueroa with a hammer Feb. 4, 2006 at his farm after he tried to shoot her but his rifle misfired. 

He believed Figueroa was fooling around on him and just before the killing the two had argued at Figueroa’s aunt’s house. After he bludgeoned Figueroa, Higa called the aunt to tell her what he did before stabbing himself in the abdomen with a knife.

Higa’s case took so long to go to trial because of questions over his mental fitness to stand trial.