Woman gets
20 years in killing
A 30-year-old woman convicted of manslaughter for shooting a man multiple times during a confrontation in Waipahu was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Circuit Judge Karl Sakamoto also ordered yesterday that Totie Tauala spend a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison for using a semiautomatic firearm to shoot Hayward Julio in his car on Waipio Point Access Road in August 2002.
Tauala was initially charged with second-degree murder but a jury in April believed her story that she was under an extreme mental and emotional disturbance at the time of the shooting, reducing the charge to a reckless, rather than intentional, killing.
Tauala claimed at trial that she shot Julio on Waipio Point Access Road because of statements he was making that brought back repressed memories of a July 1994 rape by her father. Her father died before any charges could be filed.
Deputy public defender Jerry Villanueva said Tauala has taken responsibility and the only issue at trial was if her actions were intentional.
Deputy Prosecutor Douglas Chin had asked that Tauala serve her sentence consecutive to a term that expires in 2006 for violating parole.
When the shooting occurred, Tauala had been distributing "ice" and was also on parole in a 1994 case in which she was driving drunk and crashed, killing her passenger, Chin said.
The shooting shocked the community because it happened in broad daylight just outside Waipahu High School, he said.