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Judge sentences
armed-standoff
defendant to life
term in prison
Wayman Kaua held police at
By Debra Barayuga
bay for nearly 22 hours in 1998;
he must serve at least 15 years
Star-BulletinShellnell Kaua shielded him after he threatened to shoot their son during an armed standoff with police in 1990.
She stood her ground when Wayman Kaua tried to make her leave during another standoff eight years later.
And she defended him yesterday after he was sentenced to life in prison with a mandatory 15 years for convictions stemming from the 1998 standoff.
Shellnell Kaua criticized the life sentence Judge Wendell Huddy gave her husband, Wayman, as "too harsh," saying the court weighed the community's interests more than her husband's.
"Hopefully, the parole board will grant him another chance," she said in brief remarks outside the courtroom.
It'll be up to the Hawaii Paroling Authority to decide the minimum term he will actually serve.
Kaua, 31, was convicted by a jury in November of 12 counts, including attempted manslaughter, holding a female resident against her will and using a semiautomatic rifle in the nearly 22-hour standoff with police that paralyzed the Pacific Palisades community in October 1998.
City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle yesterday asked that Kaua be sentenced to two life terms. He cited Kaua's felony convictions, history of violence, numerous violations while on probation and parole and unsuccessful attempts at rehabilitation and drug treatment.
Kaua's lawyer, deputy public defender Todd Eddins said the state's request amounted to sending his client to a "geriatric ward in Halawa til 2030 or 2040."
Kaua has admitted his wrongs, never minimized his actions and has apologized, Eddins said.
Huddy said he tried to balance the interests of the community with Kaua's interests. But based on Kaua's past acts of violence and the facts surrounding the Pearl City standoff, he found that an extended term was necessary for protection of the public.
Huddy noted that Kaua has loving and supportive family and friends, had been active in church and coaching youth football.
But his history showed that when under extreme stress and using drugs, Kaua was unable to control his behavior and became assaultive and threatening, Huddy said. He was even more concerned with Kaua's access to firearms.
In brief remarks to the court, Wayman Kaua referred to his cousin, Dominic Kealoha, who died after a standoff with police in Nanakuli last week that closed Farrington Highway overnight.
"Last week, I lost one cousin. My cousin, Dominic Kealoha and me and my family, are good people," Kaua said. "(Kealoha) was one good man and that's the bottom line."
Kaua had written Kealoha on the back of the brown prison uniform that he wore yesterday. Shellnell Kaua said she and her husband were "stunned and shocked" at the Kealoha's death. "Wayman is taking it hard," she said.
The cousins were close growing up and had spent some time as cellmates at Halawa before Kealoha's release Nov. 10, she said.
