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Courtesy: Honolulu Police Department
Prosecutors charged David Orpin with second degree murder Thursday in the beating death of a 70-year-old man in Manoa.
Authorities may never know exactly what lead to the fatal beating of a homeless man in a church parking lot in Manoa two years ago because the convicted killer is not talking.
A state jury found David Orpin, 60, guilty of manslaughter for the October 2010 beating death of 62-year-old Arthur Martinez.
Circuit Judge Glenn Kim sentenced Orpin today to 20 years in prison.
The Hawaii Paroling Authority will decide how much of the 20-year term Orpin must spend behind bars before he is eligible for parole.
Police found Martinez’s body Oct. 27 in the St. Pius X church parking lot after Orpin went to Honolulu Police Department headquarters and told an officer he probably needed to be arrested for murder.
Orpin and Martinez were among a number of homeless men living on church property.
The officer said Orpin told him he was harassed by someone, he hit him and that the body was in the St. Pius church parking lot.
Martinez’s body had fractures in the front and back of the skull and what the prosecutor described as defensive wounds to the right hand. Apparent blows to the hand broke off the tip of the ring finger and nearly severed the middle finger. Police have not recovered what was used to deliver the blows.
Orpin did not testify during his trial.
His lawyer suggested that Orpin killed Martinez in self-defense.
Orpin declined to speak to court officials tasked with preparing a report for Kim for Wednesday’s sentencing and declined the opportunity to say anything at sentencing.
His next opportunity to talk about what happened will be when he appears before the parole board.
