A state jury deliberated for 2-1/2 days before finding Ilai Luamanu guilty Tuesday of manslaughter instead of murder in a 2016 stabbing in Makiki.
Luamanu, 30, faces a maximum 20-year prison term at sentencing in July. He has been in custody since his arrest nearly two years ago.
Iosua Fiso, 26, died Aug. 7, 2016, from a stab wound to the lower part of his chest, which punctured his heart. He also had three bruises on the back of his head.
Multiple witnesses saw Luamanu chase Fiso outside the Makiki apartment building where Luamanu lived as Fiso taunted him. Surveillance cameras at the apartment building and at three nearby businesses recorded video of the chase.
The witnesses told police they saw Luamanu throw something at Fiso. However, none of them reported seeing the stabbing or even seeing Luamanu make contact with Fiso. And the stabbing occurred just out of camera view.
Police never recovered the object used to stab Fiso. They arrested Luamanu five days after the stabbing.
Luamanu did not take the witness stand. The jurors, however, watched video of Luamanu telling police he did not stab Fiso and didn’t know what happened to him.
Pregnant woman who died on hike ID’d
The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office has identified a 34-year-old Utah woman who died Sunday after being struck by falling rocks while hiking in Kaaawa as Jenna S. Johns.
The cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries. Sources have said Johns, of Salt Lake City, was six months pregnant.
The Medical Examiner’s Office declined to confirm whether she was pregnant at the time of her death.
