At their son’s sentencing in 2013 for one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder, Toby Stangel’s parents asked the judge to give their son hope that he could some day go free.

State Circuit Judge Glenn Kim sentenced then-30-year-old Stangel to three consecutive life prison terms. The Hawaii Paroling Authority later told Stangel that he would have to serve 50 years of one life term behind bars, then 40 years for each of the two other life terms before he would be eligible for parole.

The state Intermediate Court of Appeals is now offering Stangel the hope that Kim denied.

Last month, the appeals court overturned Stangel’s three consecutive life prison terms.

John Schum, Stangel’s trial lawyer, said he has shared the news with Stangel’s parents. "They are thankful for the ICA’s ruling and they’re glad that Toby will have hope for the future," he said.

The appeals court maintains the reason Kim gave for stacking the life prison terms, rather than the customary concurrent sentencing, was based on an unsubstantiated assumption.

The state had sought to have Stangel face extended sentences of life in prison with no opportunity for release on parole. But jurors, who found Stangel guilty of murder, attempted murder, a firearms offense and other crimes, could not agree on whether he deserved the state’s harshest penalty. So the state instead asked Kim to impose the three life prison terms back-to-back "to protect the public from further crimes of the defendant."

The prosecutor asserted that Stangel is a danger to the community because he used a semi-automatic firearm to commit the murder, attempted murders and other crimes. and pleaded no contest in 2004 to carrying a firearm without a permit.

Based on that, Kim said, "I think it’s safe to infer that he’s (Stangel) been illegally carrying around a handgun for years."

And combined with his years of severe substance abuse, Kim described Stangel as a lethal time bomb that eventually went off.

The appeals court said there is nothing in the record that supports Kim’s assumption that Stangel possessed a handgun from 2004 to 2011, then sent the case back to the Circuit Court for resentencing by a different judge.

The state says it plans to again ask for consecutive life prison terms.

Stangel shot and killed 54-year-old Tammy Nguyen on Waialae Avenue near Market City in Kaimuki as the mother of 10 sat behind the wheel of her minivan waiting for traffic signal to change in the early-morning hours of June 3, 2011. He had shot at and missed another motorist at the intersection.

He then drove onto the H-1 freeway, where he shot and wounded two other motorists near the Houghtailing Street exit in Kalihi. Stangel continued driving west on the freeway and shot at and missed two police officers at a traffic stop in Aiea.

Stangel told Kim he believed his life was in danger and believed he fired his handgun in self-defense.

Schum said Stangel’s drug use had made him paranoid.