A state judge says Moses Henry committed misdemeanor assault, not manslaughter, when he delivered a single punch to the face of another man, leading to the man’s death.

Circuit Judge Dexter Del Rosario handed down a guilty verdict to third-degree assault Thursday in Henry’s nonjury trial.

Henry, 30, faces a maximum one-year jail term at sentencing in February.

He could have been sentenced to up to 20 years if the verdict had been manslaughter in the death of 53-year-old Anthony Corpuz. Henry struck Corpuz early May 3 near Club Cleopatra on Dillingham Boulevard.

Corpuz fell backward and hit his head on the ground, police said. A city ambulance took him to a hospital, where he died May 17.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office said Corpuz died of brain injuries due to blunt force trauma.

Deputy Prosecutor Dean Young said Corpuz was a janitor for the strip mall that included Club Cleopatra and was collecting bottles and cans before work. Henry was cutting in between buildings with two males and two females when Corpuz swore at them for allegedly urinating on the buildings, Young said.

Henry and the other men ran at Corpuz, and Henry punched him, Young said.

Defense lawyer Darcia Forester told Del Rosario that no one in Henry’s group had urinated on the buildings.

She said Henry did not intend to injure or kill Corpuz, but was reacting to a racial slur that Henry believed Corpuz had made, directed at his group. Henry is from Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia. Henry only intended to cause Corpuz pain to shut him up, Forester said.