Stangel convicted of murder in 2011 shooting rampage
Toby Stangel was found guilty of second degree murder and second degree attempted murder and not guilty on first degree attempted murder by a jury in the courtroom of Judge Glenn Kim.
A Circuit Court jury convicted Toby Stangel today of second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder for a 2011 shooting spree that left one motorist dead and two others wounded.
But the jury refused to convict Stangel, 30, of Wahiawa on first-degree attempted murder charges that carry a mandatory life term without parole, the state’s harshest sentence.
Stangel faces a life term with the chance of parole for the second-degree murder and attempted murder convictions.
But city prosecutors will press for a life term without parole because of Stangel’s second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder convictions.
Circuit Judge Glenn Kim told the jury to return to court Monday for a hearing on whether Stangel should be sentenced to the state’s most severe sentence as a multiple offender and a danger to the community.
Kim set the sentencing for July 31.
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The jury returned the verdict this afternoon after nearly two days of deliberations that started Tuesday.
Stangel’s defense did not dispute that he fired the shots during the 17-minute shooting rampage that started at Waialae Avenue in Kaimuki and continued onto the H-1 freeway during the early morning of June 3, 2011.
The defense argued that the state failed to prove that Stangel intended to kill anyone and said he was guilty of the lesser offense of reckless endangering.
Stangel did not testify in the trial.
Tammy Nguyen, a 54-year-old Palolo mother of 10, was the driver of a minivan waiting at a stoplight on Waialae Avenue when she was fatally shot in the head.
Two other motorists were wounded on the H-1 freeway.
The prosecution contended that Stangel shot at two police officers at a traffic stop near the Ewa-bound off-ramp from Moanalua Freeway to the H-1 freeway.
Stangel had faced three first-degree attempted murder counts.
They included murdering Nguyen and trying to murder her 16-year-old daughter, who was in the van.
The other two first-degree attempted murder counts involved trying to murder police officers.
The jury acquitted Stangel of the first count, apparently because the panel didn’t believe he tried to murder the daughter.
The panel found him guilty on the other two counts of the lesser offense of second-degree reckless endangering the two officers.
