The former couple accused in the horrific slaying of 51-year-old Telma Boinville on Dec. 7, 2017, at a Pupukea vacation rental, while her 8-year-old daughter was bound and her mouth taped upstairs, appeared in court Tuesday for a hearing on a number of issues.
The hearing revealed details about an angry mob of roughly 75 who tracked down Stephen Brown and Hailey Dandurand after the killing since they allegedly drove off in the gold Toyota Tacoma pickup Boinville drove.
Circuit Judge Rowena Somerville ruled against a motion to have separate trials for Brown and ex- girlfriend Dandurand on charges of second-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, burglary, unauthorized vehicle entry and unauthorized possession of confidential personal information. Brown is also charged with criminal property damage.
Brown’s court-appointed attorney, William Bagasol, told the court that since there is antagonism between the two, referring to Dandurand filing for a restraining order against Brown after being taken into custody, she would likely assert some form of duress or abuse. The trial is set for Jan. 3.
The judge said Barry Sooalo, the lawyer for Dandurand, has been given a year to come up with an expert regarding spousal abuse but has not.
Sooalo said he didn’t think an accused person could be precluded from taking the stand and saying that “for two weeks prior to these events, she was beaten every single day.”
The judge left the matter open, allowing Bagasol to file a motion to sever.
Boinville, a substitute teacher originally from Brazil, was found in a pool of blood inside a house on Ke Iki Road, where she had been cleaning. She died of blunt-force and sharp-force injuries to her head and received 31 injuries to her body. Police found a bloody hammer, knife and mallet near her body. Her bank card was found in Dandurand’s pocket.
Bagasol also filed a motion to suppress statements Brown made to police during his arrest, alleging Brown’s Miranda rights were violated and saying also that Brown was still drunk hours after police questioned him surrounded by a crowd, which Bagasol said was coercive and tainted the whole process.
Brown, 28, took the stand, his once long, curly green hair now a natural color and tightly pulled back in a bun, his legs shackled.
Brown said he fled on foot and was blindsided when someone tried to grab him. “I was getting kneed, body shots, trying to twist my arms to handcuff me. … They were saying, ‘Why’d you kill the lady?’” He also said someone had a gun but that he didn’t hear him identify himself as a police officer and threatened to shoot Brown.
The officers were yelling profanities, “accusing me of the crime: ‘Why’d you do it? … That’s her blood, huh?’”
“They never read me my Miranda rights,” he said. “I was resisting, not necessarily sober or sane at the time,” he said. He admitted to “retaliating” once he got inside the police car.
During cross-examination, Brown admitted to statements including, “You should have shot me. I want to die. You should have killed me,” and, “I know what you guys are doing here. Just kill me already.”
Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bell called Aaron Oshiro, a police officer who responded to the scene of Brown’s arrest at the Mililani Walmart parking lot.
Oshiro said when he arrived in front of the theaters, five officers were struggling to handcuff Brown on the ground.
“He was flailing, kicking, fighting, and the crowd seemed to have followed us as well,” he said, estimating about 75 people were there. The situation was tense with the mob “surrounding my vehicle, yelling, ‘Let’s f— him up.’ He’s lucky that we found him.”
Once three officers got him into the police car, Oshiro said, Brown was screaming, yelling and managed to slip his cuffed hands from behind his back so they were in front of him, and tried to kick out the windows and the partition between the front and rear of the car.
At one point Oshiro stopped the car, got out, told Brown to stop kicking and pepper-sprayed him through the back-seat window when he refused.
Oshiro said people riding in a truck followed them and were “telling me, ‘Let me kick his ass.’”
Because of police protocol after the use of pepper spray, Oshiro took Brown to Wahiawa General Hospital where he was instructed to bag his hands, but Brown bit through the paper bags, exposing his hands, and licked his hands. A second set of bags was put on, but he tore through those.
The judge said she did not believe Brown, and denied the motion to suppress the statements.
