A 25-year-old Kona man, who took a plea deal Aug. 28, had been facing life without the possibility of parole for two fatal stabbings and two near-fatal stabbings, but the question of his mental fitness initially stood in the path of a trial for the crimes.
A Kona grand jury indicted Chito Asuncion Sept. 26, 2022 for the two Kona murders in May and June 2022 that bookended the two stabbings in Hilo. The victims ranged in age from 48 to 70.
Because of the multiple second-degree murder and attempted murder charges, the grand jury indicted him on the additional charges of first-degree murder and first-degree attempted murder, each carrying a penalty of life without parole.
The grand jury set Asuncion’s bail at $10 million, but the progression to trial ground to a halt Nov. 16, 2022, when the defense raised a motion to suspend proceedings for examination for fitness to proceed. The judge ordered that day a psychiatric evaluation of Asuncion and revoked his bail.
Asuncion pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of first-degree assault. The state dropped the first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder charges, and reduced the attempted second-degree murder charges to assault.
Asuncion pleaded guilty Aug. 28 to the second-degree murder charges in the deaths of Boyd Maygra on June 7, 2022, and Brian Macaulay on May 17, 2022.
He also pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree assault in the knife stabbings of Gary Nakagawa, 59, of Hilo on May 25, 2022, and Alice Coleman, 70, on May 30, 2022.
Asuncion will be sentenced Nov. 20, 2023 for all four crimes.
Second-degree murder carries a life sentence with the possibility of parole, and the maximum penalty for first-degree assault is 10 years in prison.
