Tearful relatives of Big Island murder victim Daysha Aiona-Aka pleaded Thursday with the Hawaii Paroling Authority to keep her killer’s minimum sentence at 100 years.

“We feel he deserves to have a big sentence because when he killed Daysha, he killed a part of all of us,” Bev Akimseu, Aiona-Aka’s grandmother, told the parole board as she fought back tears. “We cannot have a happy occasion without missing Daysha.”

Three of Aiona-Aka’s relatives testified before the board about the debilitating impact her 2006 murder has had on the family and especially on her now-9-year-old son, Dayson Akimseu.

Dayson, then 2, was the sole witness when his father, Jeffrey Boyd Santos Jr., fatally shot his ex-girlfriend in the back of the head at a remote site outside Hilo. Aiona-Aka had ended their stormy six-year relationship shortly before she was killed.

The board met Thursday to take testimony about a new minimum sentence for Santos, who received life with the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

A prior board in 2008 set Santos’ minimum at 100 years, one of the longest in Hawaii for second-degree murder, but failed to specify why it deviated from sentencing guidelines. Under the guidelines, the board should not set a minimum sentence of more than 50 years.

The board had the authority to exceed the guidelines but was required to specify the reasons. Because it failed to do that, the agency agreed to set a new hearing after Santos requested one last year.

The board is expected to decide on a new minimum within two weeks, according to Chairman Bert Matsuoka.

Waylen Leopoldino, Aiona-Aka’s brother, told the panel he was angry that the family had to go through another hearing, which could result in a reduced minimum for Santos.

“We’ll never have (Daysha) back,” Leopoldino said. “It bothers me we’re going to give Jeffrey Santos some hope.”

Akimseu said her husband, Tommy, the last adult family member to see Aiona-Aka alive, has been deeply depressed since the murder and his health has suffered. The Akimseus, including Dayson, have been undergoing therapy.

The family members said Dayson has had a particularly difficult time adjusting to the loss of his mother.

Akimseu read the board part of an imagined conversation between Dayson and his mother that the boy wrote recently.

“I cry every day,” Dayson wrote.

“Me, too,” his mother replied.

“I just wanted to hug you,” he said.

“Me, too,” his mother answered.

Akimseu, who along with her husband adopted Dayson after the murder, said it is unbearable that the boy will not be able to share experiences with his mother as he grows older.

“This is a 9-year-old boy who needs a mother,” she said. “His whole life, since he was 2, he doesn’t have this, and it’s going to continue for the rest of his life. More than 50 years, he’s going to be suffering.”

Akimseu told the board that Dayson, who remembers the shooting, recently told her that he was afraid his father would be released from prison and “come get me.”

Santos monitored the hearing through a live video feed from an Arizona prison where he’s serving his sentence. The live feed was projected on a large TV screen at one end of the hearing room, but Aiona-Aka’s relatives would not look at him.

After listening to their anguished pleas, Santos told the board he was “truly sorry for what I did. I miss Daysha so much. Every day I think of her.”

He said he didn’t expect to get out of prison any time soon and thanked Aiona-Aka’s family for
raising his son.

When Matsuoka, the board chairman, asked Santos what minimum he believed he deserved, Santos seemed to struggle coming up with an answer. After a long silence, he replied, 15 to 30 years.

In a letter to the paroling authority, Mike Kagami, deputy prosecutor for Hawaii County, asked the board to set a 75-year minimum. Kagami said that was justified because Santos committed the murder in front of their 2-year-old son and the killing appeared to be premeditated.

Brian De Lima, Santos’ attorney, told the board his client realizes he committed a serious crime and expects to be punished. But the minimum sentence should be fair, he said.

In a pending court case, De Lima challenged the 100-year minimum, saying it was akin to a first-degree murder sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

By setting such a high minimum, the board essentially usurped the authority of the Legislature and the court, De Lima said.