Wayman Kaua, who fired a shotgun toward officers during a 15-hour standoff with police Sept. 12, 2019, in Pacific Palisades and held his ex-girlfriend hostage — similar to his 22-hour standoff in 1998, was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison.
In both cases, Kaua fired shots at police, held women hostage and paralyzed the Pacific Palisades community for many hours.
Circuit Judge Kevin Souza followed the sentencing guidelines of a plea agreement in which the 54-year-old had pleaded guilty to a lesser crime following a stroke he had after trial on a first-degree attempted murder charge for trying to kill three police officers had already gotten underway.
During his jury trial, which began Oct. 28, the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office said Kaua suffered a stroke sometime after Nov. 3 when the prosecution rested its case.
The trial was delayed until he pleaded guilty Nov. 18 to the lesser charge of first- degree attempted assault, three firearm charges and two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening.
On Thursday, Kaua, wearing orange prison garb and a mohawk with his salt-and-pepper hair down to the middle of his back, was wheeled into the courtroom in a wheelchair.
Before the judge sentenced him, Kaua apologized to family and friends, even though the courtroom was devoid of any supporters or even detractors.
“I’d like to apologize to my family for what I’ve done,” he said, speaking in a low tone.
“To my children and grandchildren, the Takeuchi family, my hometown, I never meant to hurt nobody but myself, so I’m glad that only me got hurt.
“I just apologize for my mistakes for what I’ve done. I wish that didn’t happen but it did. And I can face the fact that I was wrong. That’s it.”
Kaua had politely answered the judge’s questions, “Yes, Your Honor,” “No, Your Honor,” looking at Souza, as he waived his right to a jury determination for the sentencing, but he looked down as the judge sentenced him.
He was ordered to serve 20 years, and a minimum of six years and eight months in accordance with repeat-offender sentencing, for Count II — carrying or use of firearm in the commission of a separate felony. Kaua’s 20-year sentence will run concurrently with all other shorter sentences for the other crimes he was convicted of.
Had he been found guilty of first-degree attempted murder for trying to kill a law enforcement officer, he would have been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
The judge gave him credit for 1,275 days served, nearly 3-1/2 years.
At trial, deputy public defender Edward Aquino said Kaua’s dreams of building a life with his new girlfriend of a few months were dashed when she broke up with him over the phone the night before the standoff.
His daughter said Kaua had gotten out of prison about six months earlier when he went to the two-story house of his ex-girlfriend at 2292 Apoepoe St.
Aquino told jurors that Kaua just wanted police to shoot him, evidenced by his holding the shotgun’s muzzle to his chin and his pleas, “Shoot me. Shoot me.”
He wanted his life to end, but did not want to commit suicide, believing that was an unforgivable sin, and wanted to have his ex- girlfriend Marika Tachera by his side, Aquino said.
Of the numerous officers at the scene, only officer Jonathan Frye fired his AR-15 rifle, and hit Kaua twice in the back and once in the shoulder.
Despite his being shot that morning, he surrendered only after tear gas was fired beginning 11:40 p.m. that night.
Deputy Prosecutor Scott Bell said Kaua initially demanded that the ex- girlfriend’s sister allow him to talk to her, then fired a shot into the air sometime around 9 a.m. from a shortened-barrel, 12-gauge shotgun, then shot the back window of her SUV parked out front.
Kaua drove off when she didn’t come out.
An officer followed him and he returned to the house.
Kaua got out of his car and begged police to shoot him. Instead they ordered him to drop the gun.
He went into the garage and emerged from the second floor, where the woman lived, and pointed the shotgun at Frye’s car.
That’s when Frye discharged a burst from his rifle, causing Kaua to retreat, Bell said.
The ex-girlfriend managed to escape after he blacked out. One officer testified she was standing near Frye when she saw Kaua on the second floor and saw the window flexing with someone pounding on the window.
She testified that a lone male was aiming the gun outside the window. But she retracted her statement after reviewing her 2019 report, which said she did not see him aiming the gun and that he was merely holding it. And that’s when Frye fired four rounds.
The 2019 standoff, in which some Pacific Palisades residents were told to remain in their homes, brought back the nightmare of the 1998 standoff for those trapped in their homes for 22 hours.
In the October 1998 standoff, a police sharpshooter shot Kaua as he held his wife at gunpoint. Kaua had also held a female resident as hostage but allowed her to go free after 16 hours in exchange for food.
The standoff was a result of Kaua trying to evade arrest for parole violations.
Kaua fired shots outside the Waimano Home Road house, and fired at police stationed in the parking lot of a church and day care center in the valley below, which endangered motorists traveling on Komo Mai Drive into and out of Pacific Palisades.
Then-deputy public defender Todd Eddins said during that trial that Kaua “had a death wish, but he did not wish the death of a fellow human being.”
He said Kaua turned to crystal methamphetamine after he was laid off from his job and felt like a failure after he couldn’t find full-time work to support his family.
