He was one of Hawaii’s more infamous prisoners.
A lawsuit he filed against the state wound up before the U.S. Supreme Court, where the justices in a key 1983 ruling determined that states have a nearly unrestricted right to transfer prisoners to other states.
Delbert Wakinekona, who was given a life sentence with a 30-year minimum for a 1970 murder conviction, was granted a compassionate release in October 2011. By then he had spent more than 40 years behind bars, mostly on the mainland.
In supporting Wakinekona’s release, a prison physician told paroling authorities that the inmate, suffering from end-stage liver disease, probably would live no more than 30 days, according to retired attorney Bob Merce, who helped Wakinekona gain his freedom.
Wakinekona ended up living more than two years. He died this month at age 69.
Lillian Wakinekona, who married the former inmate just days after his release, is now supporting a bill before the Legislature that would make changes to the way Hawaii’s penal system considers compassionate releases. The current system is too inefficient and denies too many dying inmates, many of them elderly, a chance to spend their remaining time with family, proponents of the bill say.
“They should be able to have some time to die with dignity,” Wakinekona said.
Because it took six months to gain Delbert Wakinekona’s release, Merce said he drafted a bill to make the system more efficient and fair, and the measure was introduced in the 2012 session. It didn’t pass. A similar bill was introduced last year but likewise didn’t pass, carrying over to the current session.
Wakinekona was convicted for murder even though his accomplice in a store robbery actually killed the victim. The laws at the time — since changed — allowed prosecutors to pursue a felony murder charge against Wakinekona.
He also had an escape and rape conviction, though Merce and others question the evidence used to convict him for the latter charge.
Once labeled by authorities as the most dangerous and assaultive inmate in Hawaii’s prison system, Wakinekona settled down in later years and became a model prisoner, his records show.
In 1998 his former prosecutor even wrote a letter supporting a reduction in Wakinekona’s minimum sentence.
Thirteen years later several lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, wrote to the Hawaii Paroling Authority supporting Wakinekona’s request for an expedited compassionate-release hearing. They noted that prison officials supported his release, which was granted Oct. 28, 2011.
