A state judge found a 57-year-old homeless man guilty Tuesday of attempted assault, instead of attempted murder, for trying to smother a Kailua woman who had taken him in.
Darryl Thomas had testified in his trial for attempted murder that he only wanted to talk to Dr. Wilma Kam when he broke into her home through her second-floor bedroom window just past midnight in 2014. But when she started screaming, Thomas said he used a blouse to quiet her.
Defense lawyer Walter Rodby said in closing arguments that if Thomas intended to kill Kam, there were many other items available on the property he could have used instead of a blouse she could breathe through.
Acting Circuit Judge Sherri Iha found Thomas guilty of attempted first-degree assault and first-degree burglary. Each of the charges carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bell, however, said he will ask Iha to hand down 20-year prison terms at sentencing in May because Thomas was found guilty of two felonies and has previous felony convictions. Kam was 65 when Thomas tried to smother her while she slept.
Iha also found Thomas guilty of misdemeanor terroristic threatening for saying he was going to kill Kam and her family after police apprehended him.
Kam let Thomas live on her farm in a motor home she had purchased for him to use. In exchange, Thomas did work on the sprawling property. After five years the relationship soured and Kam got a restraining order in September 2013 to force Thomas off her property and stop him from harassing her. Thomas refused to leave.
HAWAII ISLAND
Tour guide and visitors cited for being in closed crater area
A tour guide has been cited for leading a group into a closed area at Halemaumau Crater, an area closed to the public since 2008.
At approximately 12:30 a.m. Monday, park rangers caught the tour guide and 13 clients entering the area. Rangers issued citations to the guide and clients for violating the terms of the closure before escorting them out of the park, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park said in a news release.
The tour guide, 44, who is employed with a France-based tour company called Adventure et Volcans, also was cited for operating a nonpermitted business in the park and creating a hazardous condition. He faces a maximum fine of $5,000 and six months in jail for the violations.
Each client also faces a $130 fine for violating the terms of the closure.
Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park spokeswoman Jessica Ferracane said, “They’re really putting themselves in hazardous situations.”
There are “a lot of explosions that have been happening at the summit,” Ferracane said.
Last year, spattering lava destroyed U.S. Geological Survey scientific equipment and instruments.
Halemaumau Crater and parts of the rim trails have been closed to the public since the 2008 summit eruption because of hazardous volcanic conditions that include collapses of crater walls.
Since July 2016, park rangers have issued 35 citations to individuals entering closed areas at Halemaumau.
At closed areas at Kamokuna, where a high volume of lava is flowing into the ocean, nearly 100 citations were issued in the same time period.
