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Convicted killer receives lighter sentence
A convicted killer whose life prison term for manslaughter was overturned on appeal was resentenced in state court Friday morning to 20 years behind bars.
A jury found Glenn Keohokapu Jr. guilty of manslaughter in the June 2008 stabbing death of Steven Wilcox during a confrontation outside Club Komo Mai in Kaneohe.
The same jury found Keohokapu eligible for a life prison term with the possibility for parole, and a state judge imposed the extended-term sentence in June 2009. The normal penalty for manslaughter is 20 years in prison.
The Hawaii Supreme Court overturned the life sentence last year because during the trial court jurors were told that Keohokapu could get parole under the 20-year sentence and improper testimony in the sentencing phase.
Circuit Judge Colette Garibaldi conducted a new sentencing trial last month. Friday morning she determined that Keohokapu is not eligible for an extended-term sentence and imposed the 20-year term.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Hearing set on plan to save Molokai dunes
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands will hold a public hearing Friday on Molokai regarding a proposal to increase the level of protection for the Papohaku Dune system in west Molokai.
The hearing will begin at 6 p.m. at the Mitchell Pauole Community Center, 90 Ainoa St., in Kaunakakai.
The agency wants to change the area’s land designation from the general subzone to the protective subzone because it provides the highest preservation potential for ecosystems that contain valuable historic, archeo- logical and natural resource features such as the Papohaku Dunes.
The proposed amendment is at hawaii.gov/dlnr/occl. People may send written testimony no later than May 31 to Alex.J.Roy@hawaii.gov or by mail to the Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands at P.O. Box 621, Honolulu, HI 96809. For information, call 587-0316.
