Hawaii
Men imprisoned for hate crime beating to pay $25K
HONOLULU (AP) — Two Native Hawaiian men sentenced to prison for a hate crime in the brutal beating of a white man have agreed to pay more than $25,000 in restitution, according to court documents.
A U.S. judge last month sentenced Kaulana Alo-Kaonohi to six and a half years in prison and Levi Aki Jr. to four years and two months in prison.
In a case that laid bare multicultural Hawaii’s complicated and nuanced race relations, a jury in November found them guilty of a hate crime. Jurors found that they were motivated by Christopher Kunzelman’s race when they punched, kicked and used a shovel to beat him in 2014 when he tried to move into their remote fishing village on the island of Maui. His injuries included a concussion, two broken ribs and head trauma.
Attorneys for Aki and Alo-Kaonohi say it wasn’t Kunzelman’s race that provoked them, but his entitled and disrespectful attitude. Kunzelman and his wife had purchased a dilapidated oceanfront home in Kahakuloa village on Maui and planned to move there from Arizona. Kunzelman was trying to fix up the house when the attack happened.
A court document filed this week says both men and prosecutors have agreed on $25,413.91 in restitution, to be paid jointly by Aki and Alo-Kaonohi. The amount includes nearly $11,000 in medical costs, $846 for an iPhone and $78.02 “for the loss of the roofing shovel used.”
The men took Kunzelman’s phone, which recorded the attack, and threw it in the ocean, prosecutors said.
Kunzelman had requested $60,425.53.
His wife, Lori Kunzelman, said Wednesday they are not hopeful about receiving money from Aki and Alo-Kaonohi.
“We’ll never get anything back,” she said.
Salina Kanai, an attorney for Alo-Kaonohi, declined to comment. Aki’s attorney didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Aki and Alo-Kaonohi won’t be expected to begin paying monthly installments until they are released from prison.
Both men have started the process for an appeal, asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the case.
Florida
Delivery driver gets life for killing woman, setting fire
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An appliance delivery man was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for beating a 75-year-old woman to death and setting her on fire at her Florida home.
A Palm Beach County circuit judge gave Jorge Dupre Lachazo two life sentences, plus another 30-year sentence, according to court records. The 24-year-old was convicted in January of first-degree murder, burglary and arson, following a three-day trial.
Dupre Lachazo and another man delivered a washer and dryer purchased from Best Buy to Evelyn Smith Udell’s Boca Raton, Florida, home in August 2019, officials said. After installing the appliances, the other man went outside and reported hearing screams minutes later. He found Udell on the floor and called 911. Dupre Lachazo drove off in the delivery truck but was later stopped by a responding officer, investigators said.
Police found a rubber mallet, which was used in the attack, and a can of paint thinner that Dupre Lachazo used to start the fire next to Udell’s body, according to law enforcement. Both had Dupre Lachazo’s fingerprints on them, prosecutors said. Investigators also found that the woman’s wallet had been disturbed, suggesting theft as a motive for the attack.
Defense attorneys didn’t deny that Dupre Lachazo attacked the older woman, but they argued the slaying wasn’t premeditated or intentional.
New York
Dealer pleads guilty in death of actor Michael K. Williams
NEW YORK (AP) — A Brooklyn drug dealer pleaded guilty Wednesday to providing “The Wire” actor Michael K. Williams with fentanyl-laced heroin, causing his death.
Irvin Cartagena’s plea to a charge of conspiring to distribute drugs was entered in Manhattan federal court. Sentencing was set by U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams for Aug. 18, when Cartagena will face a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and the possibility of as many as 40 years.
The famed actor, who also starred in films and other TV series including “Boardwalk Empire,” overdosed in his Brooklyn penthouse apartment in September 2021. Authorities said he died hours after buying the heroin from Cartagena on a Brooklyn sidewalk in a deal that was recorded by a security camera.
Cartagena, 39, signed a plea agreement with prosecutors stipulating that the mix of heroin and fentanyl he sold Williams resulted in his death. His lawyer, Sean Maher, declined comment.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, who is not related to the actor, said in a statement that the sale occurred in “broad daylight in New York City, feeding addiction and causing tragedy.”
“In doing so, he dealt the fatal dose that killed Michael K. Williams,” Williams said.
Prosecutors said Cartagena and his alleged co-conspirators continued to sell fentanyl-laced heroin around residential apartment buildings in Brooklyn and Manhattan even after they learned of the actor’s death. Another defendant in the case pleaded guilty Tuesday.
Williams’ death came despite an investigation by the New York Police Department that placed a paid informant making controlled heroin buys on the same block where Williams bought drugs.
The day after, the informant went back to buy more drugs from the same group and recorded a conversation in which some of them talked about Williams’ overdose. One denied selling any drugs containing fentanyl.
Williams’ “stick-up boy” character Omar Little on “The Wire” — a fictionalized look at the underpinnings of Baltimore that ended in 2008 but remains popular in streaming — was based on a real-life figure.
He created another classic character as Chalky White in HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” and also appeared in “12 Years a Slave,” “Assassin’s Creed” and other films.
In interviews, Williams had spoken about his battles with addiction.
Connecticut
Woman shot by officer gets $1.1M settlement
HAMDEN, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut woman who was seriously injured when a police officer opened fire on her and her boyfriend as they sat in a car unarmed has settled a lawsuit over the shooting for about $1.1 million.
Stephanie Washington was struck four times when Hamden officer Devin Eaton fired 13 bullets at the stopped car in New Haven on April 16, 2019, according to her lawsuit and a prosecutor’s investigation that found the shooting unjustified. She suffered multiple injuries, including spine and hip area fractures, a graze wound to her forehead and enduring trauma, the lawsuit said.
The shooting sparked several protests. Eaton, who resigned from the force last year, was charged with felony assault, pleaded no contest and was sentenced to probation and community service — punishment that also drew criticism from Washington and her supporters for being too lenient.
Eaton and the town of Hamden, two of several defendants in the federal court lawsuit, did not admit liability in the settlement, which was first reported Wednesday by the New Haven Register after it obtained a copy through a public records request.
“I’m glad that it’s been resolved,” Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett told the Register.
Phone and email messages seeking comment were left for Washington, her lawyer and Eaton’s attorney Wednesday.
Eaton stopped the couple’s car in New Haven because it matched the description of a car linked to a reported attempted robbery in Hamden, police said. Washington’s boyfriend, Paul Witherspoon III, was driving and Washington was in the passenger seat.
Eaton’s body-camera video showed Witherspoon starting to exit the car and appearing to raise his hands when Eaton begins shooting. Witherspoon then quickly got back into the vehicle. He was not injured. Eaton believed Witherspoon had a gun, officials said.
A Yale University officer, Terrance Pollock, fired his gun three times at the car. A prosecutor found his shooting to be justified because he believed Eaton and Witherspoon were exchanging gunfire. Pollock suffered a graze wound from a bullet fired by Eaton, officials said.
Advocates including the state NAACP and local clergy protested the shooting. Washington, Witherspoon, Eaton and Pollock are Black.
Nevada
Judge: No court-funded lawyer for ex-official in murder case
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A former elected official representing himself against a murder charge for the fatal stabbing of a Las Vegas investigative journalist lost bids on Wednesday to have a defense attorney appointed to advise him before trial and to relax jail restrictions so he has more time out of his cell to do legal research.
A state court judge who remains on the case despite efforts by ex-county administrator of estates Robert Telles to remove her questioned Telles in open court about the value of rental properties he owns in Arkansas, and his Las Vegas home, before ruling that Telles is not indigent and therefore is not entitled to a so-called “standby attorney” at taxpayer expense.
Clark County District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt also told Telles she won’t tell the sheriff in Las Vegas “how to run his jail,” or instruct the sheriff to provide what Telles termed “better accommodations.”
Telles has been jailed since his arrest several days after the September killing of Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German, who wrote articles critical of Telles and his managerial conduct.
Telles, 46, is an attorney who practiced civil law, not criminal, before he was elected as a Democrat as Clark County administrator. His license to practice law has been suspended, but he does not have to be an attorney to represent himself. Telles has hired and fired three private attorneys and was represented for a time by public defenders. He maintains he has evidence that exonerates him, but has declined to produce it.
Telles has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge that could get him life in prison. He told the judge on Wednesday that jail conditions deny him constitutionally protected due process rights to life and liberty, and that he is a victim of cruel and “undue punishment for being a pain.”
He told The Associated Press during a February jail interview that he wants to tell his story to a jury and wants to go to trial earlier than the scheduled November date.
Police and prosecutors say evidence is strong that Telles killed German, including Telles’ DNA, which was found beneath German’s fingernails. But police say they haven’t completed their investigation because the Review-Journal obtained a court order blocking investigators from accessing records on German’s cellphone and computer devices. The newspaper cited concerns about improperly exposing confidential sources and notes.
Last month, a panel of three state Supreme Court justices ruled that Leavitt can adopt a method for a neutral party to screen the records so they can be reviewed by police and Telles, and detectives can proceed. A hearing on that question is scheduled April 19.
